CBI arrests former NSE CEO Chitra Ramakrishna in co-location scam case
Highlight
- The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested Chitra Ramakrishna on Sunday.
- The arrest has been made in the NSE co-location case.
- Recently, a Delhi court had singled out the CBI for inaction.
Former National Stock Exchange (NSE) CEO Chitra Ramakrishna was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Sunday in connection with the NSE co-location case. Recently, a Delhi court had picked up the CBI for its inaction and “brazen” in the investigation against the accused in the last four years.
Ramakrishna had applied for a pre-arrest bail plea which was rejected by the Delhi court. Special Judge Sanjeev Agarwal also observed that market regulator SEBI has been “very kind” to the accused as it had rejected Ramakrishna’s anticipatory bail plea, observing that she was facing serious charges and wanted to know the truth. His continued custodial interrogation would be required to ascertain.
The CBI had recently issued a lookout circular against Chitra Ram Krishna, Ravi Narayan and Anand Subernium for preventing them from leaving the country.
According to CBI sources, Anand Subramaniam, appointed by Chitra Ramakrishna, was questioned by the CBI in Chennai for the past three days continuously. In addition, important documents, electronic evidence related to the case have been recovered from the SEBI office in Mumbai and an investigation is underway.
The arrests were made in a case related to the co-location scam, for which the FIR was registered in May 2018, amid fresh revelations about irregularities at the country’s largest stock exchange.
The CBI is probing the alleged improper dissemination of information from computer servers of market exchanges to stock brokers. Ramakrishna and another former CEO Ravi Narayan as well as two other executives have been penalized by SEBI for lapses in recruitment at the senior level.
Ravi Narayan was MD and CEO of National Stock Exchange from April 1994 to March 2013, while Chitra Ramakrishna was MD and CEO of NSE from April 2013 to December 2016.
The market regulator observed that the NSE and its top executives violated securities contract norms relating to the appointment of Anand Subramaniam as group operating officer and advisor to the managing director.
The co-location scam is from 2013 to 2016. At that time, Chitra Ramakrishna was working as NSE MD. Chitra had resigned from NSE in the year 2016.
Recently, the Income Tax Department raided his house in Mumbai. Chitra’s case came to light after SEBI imposed a fine of Rs 3 crore on her for rigging appointments and leaking secret information to an anonymous person in the country’s largest exchange.
Read also: NSE fraud: Chitra Ramakrishna’s anticipatory bail plea rejected