The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has alleged that Chitra Ramkrishna — one of the founding members of NSE and a former MD & CEO—used to share confidential information about the stock exchange with an ‘unknown person’—a yogi who lived in the Himalayas.

 

Sebi alleged that Ramkrishna had leaked confidential information such as NSE’s five-year financial projections, dividend payout ratio, the exchange’s business plans and agenda of NSE’s board meeting with the yogi.

 

Ramkrishna admitted that she never met but talked with him for about 20 years on email ID rigyajursama@outlook. com and took instructions for most important corporate and business decisions. In 2013, the yogi had even ordered Ramkrishna for the appointment of Anand Subramanian as the exchange’s chief operating officer (COO). The appointment cost NSE Rs 5 crore.

 

Plus, Ramkrishna gave “frequent, arbitrary and disproportionate” increase in compensation to Subramanian when there was no proof of any performance evaluation being done for him. Further, there was no evidence to satisfy the rating of A+ given to him for giving such a high increment.

 

The startling revelations are part of the market regulator’s final order after an investigation against Ramakrishna, her predecessor Ravi Narain and some other key NSE officials between April 2013 and December 2016.

 

According to Sebi, Ramkrishna said the person was a ‘Siddha Purusha’ or a ‘Yogi’ who is a ‘Paramahansa’, largely dwelling in the Himalayas. She said the unknown person is a spiritual force who has been guiding her for the past 20 years.

 

“I note that Noticee no. 1 (Ramkrishna) has submitted that for the past 20 years she has sought guidance from the unknown person on many personal and professional matters and therefore, it may suffice to say that Noticee no. 1 holds the unknown person in very high regard and is influenced significantly by the unknown person,” said Sebi’s whole-time member Ananta Barua in the order.