In a significant escalation of corporate enforcement action, the Union ministry of corporate affairs (MCA) has formally approved the serious fraud investigation office (SFIO)'s recommendation to initiate criminal prosecution against multiple individuals and companies in the Dalmia group, including Puneet Yadu Dalmia and Gautam Dalmia, over allegations of unlawful securities pledging, fraudulent share transactions, false financial statements and unauthorised payments routed to promoters.
An MCA order dated 28 January 2026 directs the agency to initiate prosecution and other enforcement actions against a long list of accused individuals and corporate entities. The order names Puneet Yadu Dalmia—a prominent figure in the Dalmia group—along with Gautam Dalmia, Yadu Hari Dalmia and several other individuals and companies, as accused persons across three distinct charges.
It also directs SFIO to move the national company law tribunal (NCLT) for disgorgement of assets and personal liability of directors, and to share the full investigation report with a wide array of regulatory and enforcement agencies including Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), the income-tax (I-T) department, central bureau of investigation (CBI), national financial reporting authority (NFFRA), Delhi police's economic offences wing (EOW), the National Stock Exchange (NSE), Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), National Securities Depository Lt (NSDL), Central Depository Services Ltd (CDSL) and IL&FS Securities Services Ltd (ISSL).
The MCA order lays out three distinct categories of alleged fraud for which prosecution has been approved.
The first and most significant charge concerns the unlawful pledging of securities of the Dalmia Bharat group. The SFIO investigation found that this resulted in a ₹40 crore unlawful gain to Puneet Yadu Dalmia personally and a ₹416 crore loss to ISSL. As part of the same charge, the accused are alleged to have approved financial statements that they knew did not present a true and fair view of the companies' affairs — a particularly serious allegation, as it goes to the integrity of disclosures made to shareholders, regulators, and the public.
Accused persons named under this charge include: Puneet Yadu Dalmia, Bijay Kumar Agarwal, Jayesh Doshi, Awanish Kumar Mishra, Mukesh Aloria, Mahesh Pansari, Ayush Patni and Roopchand Thosniwal, along with Dalmia Bharat Ltd, Dalmia Cement (Bharat) Ltd, Allied Financial Services Pvt Ltd, and a cluster of related entities including Money Mishra Overseas Pvt Ltd, Money Mishra Securities Pvt Ltd, Cointribe Technologies Pvt Ltd, Glow Homes Technologies Pvt Ltd, Vinimay Developers Pvt Ltd, and Primarc Projects Pvt Ltd.
The second charge concerns fraudulent share transactions carried out to generate unlawful personal gains. Named as accused under this head are Puneet Yadu Dalmia, Bijay Kumar Agarwal, Jayesh Doshi, Dalmia Bharat Ltd, Dalmia Cement (Bharat) Ltd and Dalmia Bharat Sugar and Industries Ltd.
The third charge concerns unauthorised and orchestrated payments routed to promoters. The accused named include: Puneet Yadu Dalmia, Jayesh Doshi, Yadu Hari Dalmia, Gautam Dalmia, Ashish Jhunjhunwala, Dalmia Bharat Ltd and Dalmia Cement (Bharat) Ltd. Under this charge, R Venkatasubramanian — identified by his associate company secretary (ACS) membership and the certificate of practice (CP) numbers, and unique code, is separately named under Section 448 of the Companies Act.
All three charges primarily invoke Section 447 of the Companies Act, 2013, which deals with fraud and carries severe penalties including imprisonment and unlimited fines. Section 448, which deals with the making of false statements in any report, return, certificate, financial statement, or other document required to be filed, is additionally invoked against specific individuals.
Beyond criminal prosecution, the MCA order directs SFIO to file an application before NCLT under Section 212(14A) of the Companies Act, 2013. This provision allows the tribunal to order disgorgement of assets, property, or cash from those found responsible, and to hold directors, key managerial personnel, and other officers personally liable without any limitation of liability.
This direction signals that the government intends to pursue not just criminal convictions but also civil recovery of the alleged gains — making the exposure for the named individuals potentially unlimited in financial terms.
The breadth of the MCA's directive to share the SFIO report reflects the scale and complexity of the alleged fraud. The report is to be shared with SEBI for necessary action, with the I-T department for follow-up on potential tax implications, with the CBI, with NFRA for its mandate over financial reporting standards, with the EOW of Delhi police, with the NSE and BSE for action relating to listed securities, with NSDL and CDSL for depository-level action, and with ISSL—which is explicitly identified as having suffered a ₹416 crore loss—for information. The central economic intelligence bureau (CEIB) is also to receive the report for sharing with other law enforcement agencies as it deems fit.
SFIO has been asked to furnish an action taken report (ATR) to the MCA within 30 days of the order.
A notable feature of the MCA order is its explicit recognition of ISSL as a victim of the alleged fraud. The order records the ₹416 crore loss caused to ISSL through the alleged unlawful pledging of Dalmia Bharat group securities, and the directions for prosecution and asset disgorgement are framed in a manner that treats the recovery of ISSL's losses as a central objective of the enforcement action.
ISSL, the securities services unit of the IL&FS group, has itself been through significant turbulence following the IL&FS crisis of 2018, making the recovery of these alleged losses a matter of particular significance for its creditors and stakeholders.
The companies under investigation in this case span the core Dalmia cement and infrastructure group as well as a network of smaller associated entities — Allied Financial Services Pvt Ltd, the Money Mishra group companies, Cointribe Technologies, Glow Homes Technologies, Vinimay Developers, and Primarc Projects, suggesting that the alleged fraudulent transactions moved through a layered structure of related and ostensibly independent entities.
The MCA's approval of SFIO's prosecution recommendation after reviewing the 7 August 2025 investigation report represents the culmination of what appears to have been a lengthy and detailed investigation. The issuance of the prosecution order, which is the government's formal legal sanction required before SFIO can file criminal complaints, means that criminal proceedings against the named individuals and companies can now be initiated in the courts and before the NCLT.
Moneylife had earlier reported on the earlier related proceedings involving the Dalmia group and ISSL, making this development a significant milestone in a matter that has been under regulatory and enforcement scrutiny for some time.
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