In a major enforcement action, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) conducted a two-day search and seizure operation at Karjat, targeting trader and market influencer Avadhut Sathe. The operation, executed from August 20 to 21, was carried out despite heavy rains in the Mumbai metropolitan region and involved meticulous planning, including court approvals, reconnaissance, and tracking movement patterns.
Sebi officials seized digital devices and trading data for forensic analysis as part of an ongoing crackdown on finfluencers and trading academies allegedly misleading retail investors. Sebi whole-time member Kamlesh Chandra Varshney confirmed the regulator’s intent to send a strong signal against market educators promising guaranteed returns or giving live trading calls without proper registration.
Sathe, who runs the Karjat Trading Academy and has over 9,36,000 YouTube subscribers, is known as a “market guru” on social media. The raid highlights Sebi’s increasing scrutiny of financial influencers who may collude with operators to manipulate penny stocks while presenting educational content to investors.
This high-profile action underscores the regulator’s focus on protecting retail investors and enforcing compliance among unregistered market educators.
