Prrsaar and Chaubara ran a 'desi Jane Street' F&O loop — SEBI froze ₹28.12 crore

Prrsaar Sampada Private Limited is a SEBI-registered stockbroker and depository participant. In December 2025 it began trading stock futures and stock options on the NSE in a way that surveillance flagged: large profits in options sitting alongside consistent losses in futures on the same underlying stocks. NSE sent communications in February and March 2026, the prop activity stopped — and then a similar pattern turned up in the trades of Chaubara Eats Private Limited, a related entity.

The mechanics, laid out in SEBI's ex-parte interim order of September 16, 2026: the entities placed large near-the-money options orders priced below and above the prevailing market and left them unexecuted in the order book. They then alternated between net-buying and net-selling the stock's futures in different time patches of the trading day, pushing prices up or down just enough to trigger the pre-positioned options at favourable premiums. The futures leg lost money consistently, but the options positions were much larger, so the options gains outweighed the futures costs.

SEBI examined 23 scrip-days — 13 for Prrsaar, 10 for Chaubara — between December 2025 and June 2026, in underlyings including Marico, Torrent Power, Hindustan Zinc, Swiggy and Prestige Estates. The targets were picked deliberately: relatively smaller, less liquid stocks among the bottom 100 by market capitalisation of the roughly 211 NSE-listed stocks eligible for derivatives. The order also flags deceptive orders and coordinated, synchronised trading across contracts and entities to slip past surveillance systems.

Whole-time member Kamlesh Chandra Varshney directed the two companies and four individuals — Ved Prakash Gupta, Priti Gupta, Saroj Gupta and Gaurav Tomar — to deposit a combined ₹28.12 crore in fixed deposits pending investigation. Until they do, they are barred from the securities market entirely; after deposit, they may trade cash but stay out of derivatives. The impounded amount covers only the sampled scrip-days, and a wider investigation into related entities continues.

₹28.12 crore of suspected gains impounded; the six parties were barred from the securities market until they deposit it, and from derivatives until further orders

The strategy exploited a structural link every exchange maintains: futures and options prices move together, so someone who can nudge the futures price moves option premiums too.

The economics worked until caught — the futures leg was a small, known cost, and the options positions riding on the induced moves were deliberately sized much larger.

Stock selection reduced the risk of being overwritten: the bottom-100 derivatives-eligible names are thin, less liquid and less watched than the index heavyweights.

Trading through two related entities, multiple contracts and both segments made the pattern harder for exchange surveillance to assemble into one picture.

A market's own plumbing can be turned against it: futures move options prices, so small deliberate futures losses can buy large options wins — until surveillance cross-references both legs.

The order is ex-parte and interim: the parties have 21 days to respond and seek a hearing. The ₹28.12 crore impounded reflects only the suspected gains in the sample examined so far, with SEBI's wider investigation looking into related entities, possible coordinated trading and potential manipulation in the cash market. Press coverage dubbed the setup a 'desi Jane Street', after the US prop firm SEBI barred in 2025 over index options trades.