SEBI v. Prijesh Kurani and others (front running a broker's client orders, 2026)

Judgment entered

✓ Checked against the primary document on October 8, 2026. The library's summary, tags and figures for this record were compared with the regulator's own document by an AI model (Claude) following written instructions, in a single reading of the order; an independent second reading of 60 SEBI records agreed on every field for 56, the four misses being penalty amounts; a later sample of 50 of the SEBI records added on 9 October agreed on every field for 46. No lawyer has reviewed them. A checked record can still contain errors, and checked does not mean endorsed. See how we check records or report a correction.

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A SEBI order of April 2026 found that Prijesh Kurani traded ahead of a large client's orders in accounts of his relatives, using information from the husband and wife who handled that client at its broker. It restrains seven people from the market for one to three years, orders disgorgement of about Rs 1.96 crore and fines two noticees Rs 10 lakh each.

The record

What was ordered

Civil penalty

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Disgorgement

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Prejudgment interest

—

Total relief

—

Alleged gain

—

Penalty as published

2m INR

A dash means the release did not state a figure we could extract, not that the figure is zero. Penalty and disgorgement are stored separately so aggregates across the library do not double-count the same dollars. This regulator states penalties in INR. The figure is recorded as published and is not converted, so it does not appear in the USD totals or medians used elsewhere on this site.

What is alleged to have happened

The order of 30 April 2026 was made by a SEBI quasi-judicial authority in Mumbai. The seven noticees are Prijesh Kurani, described as the main front runner; his wife Dharini, his mother Rekha, and his parents-in-law Navnit and Bharati Gadoya; and Vilpa Vora and her husband Pranav Vora. Ms Vora was an authorised person of Marfatia Broking Pvt. Ltd., the broker of a large client, Anustup Trading Private Limited, and Mr Vora operated the terminal in her name and gave orders to dealers.

SEBI investigated trading from January 2022 to February 2023 and issued a show-cause notice on 6 October 2025. It alleged that Mr Kurani opened and traded through the accounts of the four relatives, that the Voras acted as information carriers by passing on the client's impending orders, and that the trades ahead of those orders breached section 12A of the SEBI Act and the PFUTP Regulations. Messages between Mr Kurani and Mr Vora were part of the evidence of connection.

The order holds the front running established and applies the restraints, treating the Voras as information carriers and the Gadoyas and Mrs Kurani as having lent accounts or terminals. It accepts the Voras' request that they should not be asked to disgorge gains made in the relatives' accounts, but considers it right for Mr Kurani and the four relatives to disgorge jointly and severally because Mr Kurani took responsibility for their accounts.

The directions restrain Mr Kurani and Mr Vora for three years and the other five noticees for one year. Noticees 1 to 5 are to disgorge Rs 1,96,13,685.20 jointly and severally with 12 per cent simple interest from 28 February 2023. Mr Kurani and Mr Vora are each penalised Rs 10 lakh under section 15HA, Rs 20 lakh in all. The order notes an interim order of February 2023 that had already restrained five of the noticees.

The record does not show an appeal or payment, nor any loss to the client, which is not quantified. It describes no criminal case.

This library tags the matter as front running. The tagging is ours, not the regulator's.

For the regulator's own account of the facts, read the primary document linked above. This page deliberately summarises the structured record rather than reproducing the order.

What technique is this, and how does it work?

This action is tagged with one technique in our taxonomy. The tagging is ours: regulators charge statutory provisions, not technique names, so the mapping is an editorial judgement described in our editorial policy.

• Front running — see how it works, what statute it engages, and every other action tagged the same way.

Timeline

1. 2026-04-30 SEBI final order with restraints, disgorgement and penalties

Primary documents

Everything on this page derives from the documents below. Where our summary and the primary document disagree, the primary document is right.

• SEBI order
• SEBI order (PDF)

The linked release is published by the issuing regulator under its own terms. Our summary and narrative above are our own writing.

Related actions

Other actions in the library sharing at least one technique tag with this one.

Record added October 8, 2026. submit a correction.