MUMBAI, July 10: The economic offences wing (EOW) of Mumbai crime branch police has unearthed a racket involving a registered stock broking company dealing in fake shares of blue chip companies worth Rs 22.9 crore.

The Additional Police Commissioner (Crime), S P S Yadav, told The Indian Express that Bipul Securites based at Masjid Bundar had floated fake shares of 61 companies including Reliance Industries Ltd and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd.

Yadav suspects that more number of fake share certificates could be unearthed as the probe progresses. He said that police started investigating the case following a complaint lodged by the National Securities Exchange (NSE) on Monday. Yadav however said that the Managing Director of the Bipul Securities, Prashant Maheshwari, who escaped arrest narrowly, is still absconding. ``The crime branch has launched a massive operation to nab him,'' Yadav informed.

On whether Maheshwari would surrender after obtaining anticipatory bail, Yadav said, "We will make every effort to prevent his getting bail." "We could have arrested the culprit easily had the NSE lodged the complaint earlier," police sources maintain.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.