NSE co-location case | Ex-NSE CEO Chitra Ramakrishna sent to seven-day CBI remand

Chitra Ramkrishna was the first woman MD and CEO of the NSE

A Special CBI Court on March 7 sent former Chief Executive Officer of the National Stock Exchange Chitra Ramakrishna to a seven-day CBI custody in connection with the NSE co-location case,  CNBC-TV18 reported.

On March 6, Ramakrishna was arrested from Delhi by the CBI, a day after a court in the national capital dismissed her anticipatory bail plea. On Monday, the CBI produced ex-CEO of NSE before Special Judge Sanjeev Aggarwal and sought a 14-day custodial interrogation in the case.

ALSO READ: Former NSE CEO Chitra Ramkrishna arrested in co-location case

During the hearing in the court, the CBI said that Chitra refused to answer questions when confronted with Anand Subramanian. The CBI also said that the former NSE CEO failed to cooperate and is being evasive. That apart, CBI said that Chitra claimed she did not recognise Anand Subramanian, while over 2,500 mails were exchanged between Chitra and Anand, which need to be investigated.

The CBI had earlier too, claimed that Chitra was 'evasive' and not cooperating with the investigating officials. The investigative agency had recently questioned Ramkrishna in the NSE co-location case while, the Income Tax (I-T) Department earlier raided various premises linked to Ramkrishna in Mumbai and Chennai. Ramkrishna has also been on the radar of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).

Meanwhile, former Group Operating Officer (GOO) and adviser to Ramkrishna, Anand Subramanian, was sent to CBI custody after being arrested by the CBI from Chennai on February 25.

In the forensic audit, Subramanian was allegedly referred to as the 'yogi', with whom Ramkrishna is accused of sharing confidential information. However, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), in its final report, had rejected the claim.

Ramkrishna, who succeeded former NSE CEO Ravi Narain in 2013, had appointed Subramanian as her adviser. He was later elevated as the GOO at a fat pay cheque of Rs 4.21 crore per annum.

According to details, Subramanian's controversial appointment and later elevation were guided by an unidentified person, who Ramkrishna claimed was a formless mysterious ''yogi'' dwelling in the Himalayas, a probe into her e-mail exchanges during the SEBI-ordered audit showed. Ramkrishna had left the NSE in December 2016.

On February 11, the SEBI charged Ramkrishna and others with alleged governance lapses in the appointment of Subramanian as the chief strategic adviser and his re-designation as GOO and adviser to the MD.

SEBI has levied a fine of Rs 3 crore on Ramkrishna, Rs 2 crore each on NSE, Subramanian, former NSE MD and CEO Ravi Narain, and Rs 6 lakh on VR Narasimhan, who was the chief regulatory officer and the compliance officer.

The CBI, which was probing the co-location scam since 2018 against a Delhi-based stock broker, swung into action after the SEBI report that showed alleged abuse of power by the then top brass of the NSE.

The agency expanded its probe and grilled Ramkrishna, Narain and Subramanian in connection with the scam.

The central probe agency booked stock broker Sanjay Gupta, the owner and promoter of Delhi-based OPG Securities Private Limited, in 2018 for allegedly making gains by getting an early access to the stock market trading system, the officials said.

With inputs from PTI