Court gives Ketan Parekh 1yr prison in 1992 stock scam

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Former stock broker Ketan Parekh was sentenced by a court on Tuesday to one year's imprisonment in connection with a transaction in a 1992 stock scam, involving a unit of Canara Bank, television channels reported.

Parekh has been given bail till July 31 to appeal against the order, said Mahesh Jethmalani, Parekh's lawyer.

Six others, including former officials of Canbank Financial Services Ltd. were also sentenced by the court, the television channels reported.

"What we have done is only one transaction. We have received money from the mutual fund and we have duly delivered the shares and the shares were duly registered. Beyond that our role was not there in any manner in this transaction," Ketan Parekh told NDTV-Profit channel in an interview.

"We have the option open for appeal and we will definitely keep the option," he said, when asked whether he would appeal to the Supreme Court.

The Press Trust of India reported the prosecution alleged that money belonging to Canbank Financial was transferred to accounts with Canbank Mutual Fund in Mumbai, which then got diverted to the accounts of Parekh and other stock-brokers.

Parekh has been banned from operating in the Indian stock market by the Securities and Exchange Board of India, the markets regulator, for his role in manipulating the stock prices of various companies in 2000/01.