The opinion is unanimous among prominent stock market investors in Mumbai that Ketan Parekh is very much active. Ban or no ban, they say, Parekh manages to find his way. “Investing in stocks is his addiction. He never did leave the market,” says an investor who has tracked Parekh for years.
The dapper Harshad Mehta and the reclusive Parekh were involved in the biggest stock market scams in liberalised India, leaving many an investor without a shirt. The two men used money borrowed from banks to invest in the market and manipulate prices almost at will. Parekh bought large stakes in companies with small market capitalisation. Working closely with traders and the promoters of these companies, the price would zoom.
“He would dictate orders to the company and the promoters would succumb. For this, a good network was a must, and that was Parekh’s biggest strength,” says another investor. Parekh’s favourite stocks came to be known as K-10 and, as their valuations took off, he was not quite the same. He threw...
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