A Special CBI court in Delhi on Saturday dismissed the anticipatory bail plea of Chitra Ramakrishna, the former CEO-MD of National Stock Exchange (NSE), in connection with the NSE co-location case.
Ramakrishna, through her counsel, had approached the court seeking relief from her arrest.
Her plea was opposed by the prosecution. After hearing the argument of defense and the prosecution, the court dismissed the plea.
On February 24, the CBI arrested Anand Subramanian, the ex-Group Operating Officer of NSE. He was later sent to CBI's custody till March 6.
In December 2015, Sebi received a whistleblower complaint alleging governance issues in appointment of Subramanian. The market regulator then sought an explanation from the exchange on various points raised in the complaints. The exchange, which was then headed by Ramkrishna, was evasive. Sebi sent several reminders to the exchange. In October 2016, Subramanian was ousted from the exchange.
In December 2016, Ramkrishna also stepped down as MD& CEO. Around the same time, Sebi had also received whistleblower complaints against NSE’s colocation (colo) facility. The complaint said that the exchange was granting unfair access to certain brokers and alleged scam worth thousands of crores of rupees.
The latest questioning was done on the basis of a first information report (FIR) filed by the CBI on May 28, 2018 in the co-location (colo) matter. The four-year old FIR was primarily against Sanjay Gupta of OPG Securities, a broking outfit alleged to have got unfair access to NSE's colo facilities.
The FIR also named unknown officials of the NSE for their role in the colo controversy. Market observers say the arrest by the CBI is on account of pressure on the central agency to crack down on the case. While Sebi has been criticised for delay in passing the order in the Ramkrishna matter, CBI too had taken little action after filing the FIR nearly four years ago.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probing the NSE fraud has been making efforts to find fresh clues to reach the mysterious Himalayan Yogi, with whom the classified informations were shared by Ramakrishna.
It was learnt in the forensic report of Ernst & Young (E&Y) that Subramanian could be the mysterious Yogi. The SEBI had, on February 11, denied it.
The CBI is trying to corroborate the evidence it collected with the questioning of Subramanian.
It is probing the matter since May 2018 but has failed to find any concrete evidence to identify the mysterious Himalayan Yogi.
Recently, the SEBI had imposed a fine of Rs 3 crore on Ramakrishna, following the market regulator finding that she allegedly shared vital inputs about the NSE with the yogi. "Information regarding organisational structure, dividend scenario, financial results, human resource policies and related issues, response to regulator, etc., were shared by her with the yogi," said the source. Between 2014 and 2016 she sent emails at rigyajursama@outlook.com.
On April 1, 2013, Ramakrishna became the CEO and MD of NSE. She brought Subramanian to NSE as her advisor in 2013.
Subramanian was made the Chief Strategic Advisor of NSE. He served at this post between 2013 and 2015 before being made Group Operations Officer and Advisor to the MD between 2015 and 2016, despite having no exposure to the capital market.
Previously working as a mid-level manager in Balmer and Lawrie, he had seen his salary increased from Rs 15 lakh to Rs 1.68 crore annually, and then to Rs 4.21 crore.
Subramanian quit NSE in October 2016 and Ramakrishna in December 2016. The CBI swung into action in the case in 2018 and has been probing the matter since then.