Harshad Shantilal Mehta was born in a modest Gujarati family. He was alleged to have engineered the rise of the BSE in 1992 by exploiting several loopholes in the country's banking system.
Harshad Mehta and his associates siphoned off funds from inter-bank transactions and bought shares in huge numbers at a premium across different segments, triggering a false rise in the Sensex.
When the scheme was exposed, banks started demanding their money back, causing the Bombay stock market to collapse. He was later charged with 72 criminal offenses and more than 600 civil action suits were filed against him.
In April 1992, press reports indicated that there was a shortfall in the govt securities held by the State Bank of India (SBI). In about a months time investigations uncovered the securities scam involving misappropriation of funds to the tune of Rs.3,500 crore.
The scam engulfed top executives of large nationalized banks, foreign banks, financial institutions, brokers, bureaucrats & politicians. In less than two months following the scam, the stock prices dropped by over 40%, wiping out market value to the tune of a whopping Rs.100,000 crore.
He took the price of ACC from 200 to 9000. That was an increase of 4400%!!!
The market went up like crazy and the bulls were on a mad run. Since he had to book profits in the end, the day he sold was the day when the market crashed. One lesser known fact about this scam is that there was a very important player in this scam who managed to keep a very low profile. That man was Nimesh Shah. He was just as involved as Harshad Mehta but he knew how keep out of the hands of the law. Nimesh Shah still deals in the stock market and is known to be a heavy player. Harshad Mehta is now dead. It is rumored that when he died, he still had 10% of ACC shares with him.
Reference : http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/big-bull-harshad-mehta-pays-dues-9-years-after-death/1/132637.htm
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