The government of India has ordered a detailed probe into the goings-on at Stock Holding Corporation of India Ltd (SHCIL) that have been detailed in these columns over the last six weeks. IDBI Bank (which owns over 16 per cent of the shares) has been asked to lead the investigation and on Friday night, the chief general manager, R K Bansal, was asked to take charge at SHCIL as the interim head and also told to back up its Information Technology (IT) system and ensure that no data and information is tampered with. SHCIL’s chairman and managing director Jayaraman Iyer has been asked to go on leave. We learn that two more directors are being appointed over the weekend to conduct a detailed investigation into SHCIL’s operations, its subsidiaries and its e-Stamping contract. Meanwhile, ICICI Bank, another 16 per cent shareholder of SHCIL had already sent out a notice requisitioning a board meeting to discuss revelations by this newspaper. The board meeting, which is to be held on 25th April is expected to go into the dilution of 76 per cent of the shares of SHCIL Services Ltd (licensed as a broker of the Bombay Stock Exchange) to individuals and foreigners and the setting up of four subsidiaries with the prefix SHCIL — all with unconnected entities and individuals as substantial shareholders. All these companies were set up in under a year. The board will also investigate the structure of SHCIL’s contract as the Central Record Keeping agency for the e-stamping project.

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