The Central Bureau of Investigation on Friday issued a lookout circular against Chitra Ramkrishna, the former CEO of the National Stock Exchange over alleged irregularities.
This comes a day after the income tax department raided her premises in Mumbai, during the ongoing tax evasion investigation. Taking the matter further, look-out circulars have been issued against another former CEO Ravi Narain and former COO Anand Subramanian.
“CBI is questioning Ramkrishna today in Mumbai and has issued look out circulars against Ramkrishna, Anand Subramanian and Ravi Narain (former managing director of NSE). This case dates back to an FIR lodged in 2018 that clearly prove Ramakrishna compromised NSE confidential details,” an officer shared with scribes outside the agency’s office.
Chitra Ramkrishna is also facing allegations of irregularities over the appointment of Anand Subramanian as NSE’s group operating officer and advisor to the managing director. The case dates back to the time when she was managing director and the CEO of the National Stock Exchange, between 2013 and 2016. However, she hit headlines after Sebi’s recent notice that Ramkrishna was “steered by a mystic yogi who stays in the Himalayas” in the appointment of Subramanian and in other financial matters.
The CBI investigation, however, pertains to another scam that also took place during Ramkrishna’s tenure. It is alleged that some traders got preferential access to NSE’s co-location office in Mumbai, which made it easier to log in early, got split-second access to the data feed in the exchange. It was also alleged that some traders had multiple IP addresses for accessing exchange data.
It is learnt that the CBI has booked owner and promoter of Delhi-based OPG Securities Pvt.Ltd, Sanjay Gupta, and others in connection with alleged abuse of NSE co-location facility to make gains by getting early access to the stock market.
The agency is also probing unidentified officials of Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and NSE, Mumbai and other unknown persons.
