new delhi as a sequel to a sebi probe into alleged market manipulation the government has initiated action against bpl videocon and sterlite along with 22 brokers including harshad mehta credit suisse first boston india first global stock broking nirmal bang securities and anand rathi securities since march 2001 the 25 companies had been charged by the securities and exchange board of india sebi for irregularities like price manipulation and violation of takeover code an official release said while listing the names of the companies bpl videocon and sterlite have been prohibited from accessing the capital market for a period of four years three years and two years respectively on account of their involvement in price manipulation in connivance with harshad mehta it said in addition the department of disinvestment has framed guidelines regarding qualification of bidders seeking to acquire stakes in public sector enterprises and qualification of advisors for the disinvestment process it said decision will be taken where applicable regarding individual companies after observing the due process prescribed in the guidelines of the ministry of disinvestment it added harshad mehta has been debarred for lifetime from dealing with in securities for manipulating prices of bpl videocon and sterlite apart from harshad mehta 21 broker firms have been prohibited from undertaking fresh business till the completion of enquiry proceedings and action thereon the brokers listed by the government include foreign broking outfit csfb india securities outfits of former bse president anand rathi securities navratan capital and securities rathi global finance rathi capital and securities also in the list are nirmal bangs companies nirmal bang securities bang equity broking and bang securities pvt ltd shankar sharmas companies first global stock broking pvt ltd and first global finance ltd are also in the list of companies against whom action had been taken century consultants which was recently charged for allegedly cheating unit trust of india also figure in the list of tainted brokers the other broker outfits included vn parekh securities knp securities triumph international finance triumph securities classic shares and stock broking services nh securities vrudhi confinvest palombe securities bama securities and nadi finance