Harshad Shantilal Mehta (29 July 1954 — 31 December 2001) was an Indian stockbroker and a convicted fraudster. Mehta's involvement in the 1992 Indian securities scam made him infamous as a market manipulator. Of the 27 criminal charges brought against Mehta, he was only convicted of four, before his death (by sudden heart attack) at age 47 in 2001. It was alleged that Mehta engaged in a massive stock manipulation scheme financed by worthless bank receipts, which his firm brokered for "ready forward" transactions between banks. Mehta was convicted by the Bombay High Court and the Supreme Court of India for his part in a financial scandal valued at which took place on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). The scandal exposed the loopholes in the Indian banking system and the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) transaction system, and consequently the SEBI introduced new rules to cover those loopholes. He was on trial for 9 years, until he died at the end of 2001 from a heart attack. Early life Harshad Shantilal Mehta was born on 29 July 1954, at Paneli Moti, Rajkot district, in a Gujarati Jain family. His early childhood was spent in Borivali, where his father was a small-time textile businessman. Education He did his early study in Janta Public School, Camp 2 Bhilai. A cricket enthusiast, Mehta did not show any special promise in school and came to Mumbai after his schooling for studies and to find work. Mehta completed his B.Com in 1976 from Lala Lajpatrai College, Bombay and worked a number of odd jobs for the next eight years. Work and life Jobs, often related to sales, including selling hosiery, cement, and sorting diamonds. Mehta started his career as a sales person in the Mumbai office of New India Assurance Company Limited (NIACL). During this time, he got interested in the stock market and after a few days, resigned and joined a brokerage firm. In the early 1980s, he moved to a lower level clerical job at the brokerage firm Harjivandas Nemidas Securities where he worked a jobber for the broker Prasann Pranjivandas Broker who he considered his "Guru". Over a period of ten years, beginning 1980, he served in positions of increasing responsibility at a series of brokerage firms. By 1990, he had risen to a position of prominence in the Indian securities industry, with the media (including popular magazines such as Business Today) touting