Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday said the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has made substantial progress in the NSE colocation case.The minister in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha said the investigation into the matter has found that certain stock brokers got preferential access to the trading system.
“CBI has also registered a case in the matter in the year 2018 under relevant sections of India Penal Code, 1860, Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 and Information Technology Act, 2000. The CBI investigation is still going on. CBI has informed that substantial progress has been made in the investigation of the case,” Sitharaman said in her response.The finance minister also said that for lapses in this regard, NSE’s top officials have been held responsible for breaches of the relevant provisions of Securities Contracts (Regulations) (Stock Exchanges and Clearing Corporations) Regulations, 2012 and monetary penalty and other restrictions have been imposed on them.
Former NSE managing director and CEO Chitra Ramakrishna and former Group Operating Officer Anand Subramanian are in CBI custody.
The arrest pertaining to the co-location case follows an FIR which was registered in May 2018, amid fresh revelations about irregularities at the country’s largest stock exchange.
Before Chitra Ramakrishna, Ravi Narain was the MD & CEO of the exchange.
In February this year, market regulator Sebi imposed monetary penalty on NSE as well as Ramakrishna and Narain, and two other officials for lapses in recruitment at the senior level.
Narian was at the helm of affairs at NSE from April 1994 till March 2013 while Ramakrishna was MD & CEO of the stock exchange from April 2013 to December 2016.
The regulator has observed that NSE and its top executives violated norms in appointing Subramanian as GOO and advisor to the managing director.
