On a day the markets rose 2.25%, shares of the country's largest telecom company Bharti Airtel plunged 6.37% to close at Rs 550 after the company disclosed that CEO and joint managing director Manoj Kohli sold his entire stake of 123,000 shares last week for over Rs 7 crore.

In a disclosure on the National Stock Exchange, the company said Kohli sold 70,000 shares in the company on March 9. Estimated on the basis of the closing price of the company at Rs 587.75 on March 9, the value of the transaction is Rs 4.11 crore. Earlier on March 6, Kohli sold 53,000 shares valued at Rs 3.13 crore.

A statement issued by the company after market hours announced a major restructuring at the top fuelling speculation about "tension" in the top management. Sanjay Kapoor was elevated from President, mobile services, to a newly created position of Deputy CEO. Kapoor will lead the Mobile, Telemedia and DTH businesses and report to CEO Kohli who, the company said, will focus on strategy development, governance and organisation development.

Denying rumours of an exit, Kohli said: "I am happy to confirm that I continue as CEO and joint managing director of the company," he said. Speaking to Financial Express, Kohli said he was amused by the reaction, which he apparently never expected. He refused to read too much into the timing of the sale. "I am a middle-class guy," he said. "(The sale) is for a personal reason and only my wife can interfere in such decisions."

But analysts raised several questions. For one, they said, he could have always pledged his shares to raise funds or taken a loan from the company. "The market is worried why all of a sudden the CEO had to sell his holding," said R K Gupta, managing director at Taurus Asset Management. He said investors were jittery about such insider stake sales after recent corporate scandals, including the alleged fraud at Satyam Computer.

Kohli said speculation that he was quitting was baseless. "I still hold more stake in the company than I have sold. I still have 180,000 options in the company, some of which are vested with me and the balance would be vested by 2010", he said. "I am totally committed to my job and find it the most exciting job and there's no question of my exiting the company."