Former NSE chief Ravi Narain to be produced before PMLA court today

Former NSE chief Ravi Narain

Former National Stock Exchange chief Ravi Narain, who was arrested yesterday by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), will be produced before a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court today, according to news reports.

The anti-money laundering agency had registered a case against Narain, along with former NSE chief Chitra Ramakrishna and former Mumbai Police Commissioner Sanjay Pandey under the criminal sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) on July 14.

Also Read | Former NSE chief Ravi Narain arrested in co-location case

According to reports, Narain was placed under arrest after he “failed to cooperate in the on-going investigations".

iSec Services Pvt Ltd was hired for assessing cyber vulnerabilities, the CBI has said that the entity was used to snoop on employees, the reports said.

The contract was awarded to iSec for system audit of brokerages, including those accused of preferential access.

Narain's arrest comes a week after ED's Special Public Prosecutor NK Matta told a Delhi court that he, along with other accused, conspired to cheat NSE and its employees. They engaged with iSEC Services Pvt Ltd - the firm linked to Pandey - for illegal interception of phone calls of the exchange's employees in the guise of periodic study of cyber vulnerabilities of NSE, Matta was reported as saying before the bench by news agency PTI.

The ED action against Narain was preceded by the arrest of Ramakrishna, who was first held by the agency on March 6 in the co-location case, and was later arrested by the CBI on July 14 in the phone-tapping case.

Also Read | Explainer: All you need to know about the NSE colocation case

The co-location scam, in which both are listed as accused, refers to the case in which the then NSE brass are accused of providing a bunch of high frequency traders unfair access to speed up algorithmic trading.