The Securities and Exchange Board of India has alleged that Pranav Adani, the nephew of billionaire Gautam Adani and a senior executive on the boards of multiple Adani Group companies, had “shared price sensitive information about Adani Group’s open offer to acquire shares of NDTV with his brothers-in-law, violating insider trading norms”, according to the Economic Times.
The allegations relate to the period in the run-up to the Adani Group’s takeover of the broadcaster in August 2022, according to the report.
According to a SEBI document reviewed by ET, the regulator served a show-cause notice on October 15, 2025, to Pranav Adani, his brothers-in-law, Kunal and Nrupal Shah, and his father-in-law, Dhanpal Shah. SEBI alleged that “calls were exchanged” among the four “during the UPSI (unpublished price sensitive information) period”.
According to the ET report, JM Financial had on August 23, 2022, “informed stock exchanges after market hours about a public announcement relating to an open offer for NDTV". JM Financial was the manager of the open offer – a process in which the buying company offers to purchase shares from a target company’s shareholders at a set price. This announcement, the regulator claimed, was made following the close of trading on a market day, thus qualifying it as a UPSI until its dissemination through the exchanges.
But when trading resumed on August 24, 2022, NDTV's shares jumped.
According to SEBI, Kunal Shah allegedly bought NDTV shares on multiple occasions during the UPSI period, “including purchases made in the weeks and days leading up to the announcement,” according to the ET report. “On August 8, 2022, alone, his purchases accounted for nearly 9 percent of the total trading volume in the stock on the NSE, which SEBI described as ‘significant’,” according to the report.
The regulator had launched an investigation to ascertain which entities traded NDTV shares while in possession of this price-sensitive information.
SEBI alleged that Krunal Shah, Nrupal Shah, and Dhanpal Shah were “connected persons” who bought or sold NDTV shares using UPSI, in violation of insider trading rules. While Pranav was alleged to have violated 3(1) of the Sebi’s Prohibition of Insider Trading (PIT) regulations barring insiders from sharing UPSI, the other three allegedly “violated provisions that prohibit insiders from trading listed securities while in possession of UPSI”.
“The regulator estimates that Kunal Shah’s trades generated profits of Rs 52.89 lakh. Nrupal Shah and Dhanpal Shah also allegedly made unlawful profit(s) of Rs 52.7 lakh and Rs 32.6 lakh respectively,” the report added. Meanwhile, ET noted that they had sent queries via email to SEBI, the Adani Group, Kunal, Nrupal, and Dhanpal Shah regarding their responses to these allegations, but had received no response.
These allegations come barely a week after the securities regulator dropped an insider trading case against Pranav Adani and his brothers, Kunal and Nrupal Shah, in connection with Adani Green Energy’s acquisition of SB Energy Holdings, citing a lack of evidence.
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