NSE co-location scam: CBI may question journalist in illegal snooping case

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The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is likely to question a senior journalist based in Mumbai in connection with the illegal tapping of employees’ phones at the National Stock Exchange, top agency officials told Moneycontrol on condition of anonymity.

During its investigation into the NSE co-location scam, the CBI found that the journalist had introduced former Mumbai police commissioner Sanjay Pandey to former NSE chief Chitra Ramkrishna. Pandey is being probed in connection with the involvement of his company in tapping the phones of NSE employees from 2009 to 2017.

The co-location scam refers to a 2018 case in which the then NSE brass are accused of providing select brokers unfair access to speed up algorithmic trading.

In 2008, Pandey’s firm was among a dozen companies that applied to the NSE for an internal audit contract. Later, Pandey’s company signed an agreement with the NSE on cyber vulnerability, for which it charged Rs 4.5 crore from the exchange.

According to CBI officials, the NSE top brass asked Pandey’s company to tap the phones of all employees in the name of cyber vulnerability. The company installed tapping machines to monitor all incoming and outgoing calls, the CBI officials said.

According to the law, no company can tap phones without getting permission from the ministry of home affairs.

That apart, Pandey used to audit stock brokers and allegedly charged huge fees to give them clean chits, the CBI officials said.

Early this month, the CBI registered a fresh case against former NSE chiefs Ramkrishna and Ravi Narain, and Pandey on the directions of the home affairs ministry for allegedly tapping the phones of NSE employees from 2009 and 2017.

Pandey set up the company, iSec Services, in March 2001, after he resigned from police service. He quit as a director of the company in May 2006 and his mother and son became directors of the company.