A special court of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has rejected the bail application of the former National Stock Exchange (NSE) chief executive Chitra Ramakrishna.
The court said on Saturday that Ramakrishna introduced a non-existent person to mislead the investigators, showing prima facie connivance in the matter. The court further said the allegations against the former NSE CEO are “grave and serious” and no no grounds for anticipatory bail have been established so far; the court was also critical of the Securities Exchange Board of India (Sebi) and the CBI for not acting on the matter sooner.
The capital markets regulator in its February 11 order alleged that Ramakrishna leaked sensitive information of India’s biggest exchange to an unidentified person who she referred to as “Yogi”.
Judge Sanjeev Aggarwal noted that “It cannot be said prima facie at this stage that the role” of Ramkrishna “is not under scanner”.
“The very appointment of Anand Subramanian without following due process at very exorbitant salary, prima facie shows that all of them may have been acting in tandem with each other in carrying out or in furtherance of the objectives of the co-location scam. ”
The Sebi order also accused Ramakrishna of appointing Subramanian former group operating officer (GOO), in violation of the company’s human resources policies.
The co-location scam pertains to certain entities being given unfair access to NSE servers between 2012-2014, allowing them a windfall. The case, although highlighted by certain publications in the past, came into the limelight after Sebi, in February 11 order, mentioned the emails between Ramakrishna and the mysterious Yogi.
The court also rebuked the CBI for its handling of the case.
“CBI is most lackadaisical, to say the least as no action seems to have been taken against main beneficiaries of the present co-location scam and others for almost four full years, who seem to be enjoying merrily at the expense of common citizenry for the reasons best known” to the agency, it said.
