They are also barred from disposing of the shares of the company until further notice, according to the interim order. SEBI has also restrained investor Shankar Sharma and 21 other persons from disposing of shares in Brightcom Group.

The restraining order is following an investigation that revealed that the above-mentioned officials were involved in round-tripping of the company's funds to falsely portray receipt of proceeds through preferential allotment of shares.

While both Reddy and Raju have been barred from holding directorial or key managerial positions at any listed company or its subsidiary till further orders, Reddy has also been banned from accessing the securities markets.

Suresh Kumar Reddy is hereby restrained from buying, selling or dealing in securities either directly or indirectly, in any manner whatsoever until further orders,” the order reads.

It further gives Reddy three months (or till expiry, whichever is earlier) to close or square off any open positions he may have in any exchange traded derivative contracts.

“There is a real apprehension that the Reddy and Raju, if allowed to continue to be at the helm of affairs, may make every effort to derail SEBI's investigation to unravel the truth in this matter by further forging and fabricating records and misleading SEBI,” the market regulator stated.

The regulator further said that prima facie observations and findings show that manipulations carried out by BGL and other notices that "involve fictitious receipts of share application money from allottees and siphoning of funds from the company."

“BGL has brazenly attempted to cover up its misdeeds by submitting forged and fabricated bank statements to SEBI," it added.

SEBI has found “several instances of accounting irregularities and mis-statements in the financial statements of the Company. As per the findings of investigation, BGL attempted to camouflage accounting entries in excess of Rs 1,280 crore during FY19 and FY20 to give a distorted picture of the company's financial position.”

The investigation is still on-going, with payments made by 60 allottees to Brightcom Group's warrants and shares still under examination. An order covering these will be passed shortly.

Brightcom Group has 7 days to place this order before its board of directors. The noticees have 21 days to file their replies and objections to the order, or seek a personal hearing, the regulator said.

Brightcom Group offers digital marketing solutions to businesses, agencies and online publishers worldwide. Brightcom Group Limited connects Advertisers with their Audience across any form of Digital Media, using its massive local presence to deliver appropriate messages to the right audience, through the most relevant Digital channels.

The company's consolidated net profit rose 16% to Rs 321.48 on 14.2% increase in net sales to Rs 1,690.32 crore in Q1 FY24 over Q1 FY23.