Man Bought 3,500 Shares 43 Years Ago & Forgot About It, Now Its Value Is Rs 1448 Crore

Babu George Valavi bought 3,500 shares 43 years ago and then forgot about it. Today, the value of these shares has gone up to Rs 1,448 crore.

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New Delhi: There is a saying that when life flips, everything changes in an instant. Who knew that one day a person buying 3,500 shares would become a millionaire overnight. The case is of Kerala, where Babu George Valavi bought 3,500 shares 43 years ago and then forgot. Today, the value of these shares has gone up to Rs 1,448 crore.

Babu George Valavi, 73, who bought the shares, claimed, "In 1978, I bought 3500 shares of Mewar Oil and General Mills Limited. At that time, the company was an unlisted company in Udaipur, Rajasthan. "

Babu became a 2.8 percent stakeholder in the company after buying the shares.

"PP Singhal, the company's founding chairman, and I were friends at the time. Babu said that because the company was unlisted while buying shares and was not paying any dividends, my family and I forgot about this investment. But when we remembered this investment in 2015, we started our investigation," Babu told IANS. 

Babu claims, "During the investigation, we came to know that the name of the company has now been changed to PI Industries, which is a listed company."

Babu accused the company of illegally selling their hold of shares to someone else in 1989 using fake papers. 

"The original share certificates are safely in my home. How can the company transfer the shares to a third party then? There are a lot of discrepancies in this matter and upon inquiry, we found that the shares were transferred in the names of 13 people, all natives of Udaipur," Babu said.

The company also investigated Babu's claims. Then in 2016, PI Industries called Babu to Delhi for mediation, but Babu refused to mediate. The company had also sent two senior officers to Kerala to check Babu's documents. The company admitted that the documents Babu holds are genuine.

Despite this, the company so far has not paid up the money. 

Babu George Valavi feels that even after filing a complaint with SEBI six years back, he is yet to get a concrete reply.

The 73-year-old said, "If SEBI, which is considered the last resort of an investor, is not acting on time, what is the point? This will send a wrong message to several investors that SEBI and the Government of India are not acting properly in the matter. I need justice and justice cannot be delayed."

Valavi wants the SEBI to meticulously follow the case and provide justice to him.