ADAG says it is a victim of ''bear cartel''

New Delhi, Feb 10 (PTI) Hit by a massive sell-off instocks of various group companies, Reliance Anil DhirubhaiAmbani Group today said it is a victim of a bear cartel thathas caused a market value loss of over Rs 3 lakh crore acrossthe infrastructure sector in the past two weeks.

A day after the group''s stocks fell by up to 19 per cent,ADAG Group CEO Gautam Doshi said that the group has written tomarket regulator Sebi, the stock exchanges and intelligenceagencies to look into the matter.

"There have been concerted efforts to destabilise themarkets and the investor sentiments," Doshi said, adding thatrumour-mongering by unscrupulous elements have contributed tothe sharp fall in the group stocks.

"In the past two weeks, this illegal bear cartel hasdestroyed market value of over Rs 3 lakh crore in theinfrastructure sector," he added.

Doshi said the group intends to take strong legal actionagainst those behind the spread of the rumours, as well asthose making irresponsible statements about the group.

Doshi also said the group companies, Reliance Infra andRNRL, as well as their statutory auditors, have not receivedany notice from auditing regulator ICAI with regard to theconsent settlement reached by the two companies with Sebi.

The group stocks, however, today bounced back, defyingthe overall bearish sentiment in the broader market and surgedby up to 11 per cent in early trade.

Reliance Infrastructure, which shed 25.14 per cent inyesterday''s session, shot up by 10.97 per cent this morning.

Another major gainer from the Anil Ambani camp wasReliance Communications, which advanced by 7.22 per cent to anearly peak of Rs 101.70, after hitting a record low of Rs90.80 yesterday.

Following the debacle on the bourses yesterday, the AnilAmbani Group had issued a statement after the markets closed,alleging, "a series of completely baseless and motivatedrumours have been spread today by our unscrupulous corporaterivals."

"This (rumour-mongering by rivals) has been accompaniedby vicious and illegal bear-hammering of our listed stocks tocreate panic and destabilise the markets," the group had said.

"We have made a formal complaint to SEBI and the stockexchanges to immediately investigate these illegal trades andtake appropriate action to safeguard the interests of our over11 million investors," it added.

Shares of Reliance Broadcast Network also went up by 5.37per cent, while Reliance Capital jumped by 10.51 per cent,Reliance MediaWorks by 9.31 per cent and Reliance Power by 5.3per cent today.

Meanwhile, the BSE benchmark Sensex was trading lower by149.87 points at 17,442.90 at 1050 hours. .