New Delhi, July 8 -- It all began on a quiet Thursday morning in Mumbai. As the opening bell rang on Dalal Street, a surge in the Nifty Bank index signalled bullish energy in the markets. But thousands of miles away, in the high-rise glass offices of Jane Street, a giant quant-proprietary trading firm in New York, something deeper was at play-an algorithmic rigging strategy disguised as market momentum, cloaked in trading sophistication and speed.

As volatility pulsed through the Dalal Street, its tremors reached Parliament Street, home to Indian regulators and watchdogs. The question was no longer just about price movements-it was about market integrity. Could the highly choreographed market manipulation be disguised as the quant firm's...