New Delhi [India], October 19 : The Enforcement Directorate on Monday said it has frozen Rs 200 crores in trading accounts during searches carried out at 29 premises across Maharashtra and Gujarat in connection with the alleged "pump and dump" share manipulation scam involving certain companies.
The raids were carried out on October 16 in Maharashtra's Mumbai and Nashik, and Gujarat's Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar, Surat and Bhavnagar under the PMLA, 2002. The searches relate to the alleged manipulation of the shares of listed companies.
ED claimed to have seized various incriminating documents, digital devices, records of share transactions and property documents during the searches.
The premises searched included the offices of the two companies, the residences of their promoters, the residences of persons to whom shares were allotted at low prices, the offices of stock-broking and finance firms, and the premises of persons suspected of running the promotional online messaging groups.
ED said its PMLA investigation revealed that between April 2023 and March 2024, the two companies issued over 3.5 crore shares and convertible warrants to selected persons and entities. 
"A large part of the money paid for these allotments came from a small circle of connected persons, firms and lenders. Over the following months, the share prices were steadily pushed up, while the shares largely stayed in the same hands," the federal agency said in a statement. 
From the end of December 2025 to February 2026, ED said, social communities with names such as “Multibagger Stocks” sent daily “buy” tips on these shares to retail investors.
ED said, "The groups ran on SIM cards obtained in the names of other persons in Haryana and Mumbai, but were operated from Bhavnagar, Gujarat. Drawn in by the tips, the number of buyers in the two scrips rose many times over, which pushed the prices up further."
The agency further said it appears that the scrip of a certain company was promoted through various messaging Groups to generate buying interest in the scrip, and that it resulted in a significant increase in price and volumes of the scrip during the period when the scrip was getting promoted on these groups.
"The Preferential allottees took advantage of this increased buying interest and dumped a part of their shareholding to a large number of investors," it said.
During the searches, ED identified clusters of family-linked beneficiaries of the scheme. 
ED said its investigation revealed that these beneficiaries had acquired shares of the targeted scrips at low prices through preferential warrants. "The share prices were then pumped up through a systematic campaign run over various online channels,"  it said.