NSE co-location case: CBI probing role of other NSE officials, brokers in scam

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

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is identifying officials and brokers who conspired and executed the National Stock Exchange (NSE) co-location facility scam, sources told CNBC-TV18 on March 8.

The investigating agency was also examining the role played by Muralidharan Natarajan, the CTO of NSETECH (a subsidiary of NSE), in the scam, they added.

Natarajan is said to be the architect of the co-location facility and reported to key accused and former NSE CEO Chitra Ramkrishna, who has since been arrested.

Ramkrishna has blamed her subordinates for irregularities in co-location facility and sources said finding out Muralidharan's involvement will be an important aspect of her interrogation.

The CBI will question Ramkrishna to find out about the involvement of other NSE officials and brokers, and will confront her with digital evidence that has been collected, sources said.

A special court on March 7 sent Ramakrishna to seven-day CBI custody. She was arrested from Delhi the previous day after a court in the national capital dismissed her anticipatory bail plea.

The CBI, which questioned her for three days before the arrest, produced her before Special Judge Sanjeev Aggarwal and sought 14-day custody for questioning.

Former Group Operating Officer (GOO) and adviser to Ramkrishna, Anand Subramanian, too, was sent to CBI custody after he was arrested from Chennai on February 25.

Subramanian arrest came as the agency expanded its probe into the co-location scam following ''fresh facts'' in a SEBI report that referred to a mysterious ''yogi'' guiding the actions of Ramkrishna.

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

Subramanian's controversial appointment and later elevation, besides crucial decisions, 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 left the NSE in December 2016.

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

SEBI 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 V R 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 showed alleged abuse of power by the NSE brass.

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.