Sebi has imposed a penalty of Rs 5.25 crore on Cairn India for making a misleading announcement regarding the buyback of shares in 2014.

The market regulator has also levied a fine of Rs 15 lakh each on P. Elango, who was the CEO and director of Cairn, Aman Mehta, then a director on the company’s board, and Neerja Sharma, who was director (risk assurance) and company secretary.

Sebi said the three officials had signed the public advertisement regarding the buyback in January 2014 and facilitated the company in making the misleading announcement.

After a detailed investigation, Sebi found that Cairn did not place adequate buy orders despite the availability of adequate sell orders on the NSE.

It further noted that Cairn was not able to fulfil at least 50 per cent of the buyback issue, although the conditions were favourable to the company.