Business Tantra

A special CBI court in Delhi has dismissed the anticipatory bail plea of Chita Ramkrishna, the former managing director and the CEO of the National Stock Exchange in connection with the NSE co-location case. The CBI has already arrested Anand Subramanian, NSE’s former group operating officer, who had served as Ramkrishna’s advisor, from Chennai in the co-location case.

Chitra and Anand hit the headlines after SEBI, in an order on February 11 charged Chitra with alleged governance lapses in the appointment of Subramanian as the chief strategic advisor and his re-designation as group operating officer and advisor to MD. SEBI levied a fine of ₹3 crore on Ramkrishna, ₹2 crore each on NSE, Subramanian, former NSE MD and CEO Ravi Narain, and ₹6 lakh on V R Narasimhan, who was the chief regulatory officer and compliance officer.

The CBI, which was probing the co-location scam since 2018, swung into action after the SEBI report that showed alleged abuse of power by the then top brass of the NSE.

Ramkrishna said she was steered by a Himalayan yogi in the appointment of Anand Subramanian. While CBI claimed Anand Subramanian himself was the Himalayan yogi, SEBI contradicted the claim.

What is NSE co-location case?

The top brass of the NSE reportedly gave early access to some brokers to the stock market trading system during 2010-2012. The central probe agency had booked stock broker Sanjay Gupta, owner and promoter of Delhi-based OPG Securities Pvt Ltd, in 2018 for allegedly making gains by getting early access to the stock market trading system.

(With agency inputs)