I-T Dept Raids Premises Of Ex-NSE MD Chitra Ramkrishna For Tax Evasion Case

The Sebi has levied a penalty of Rs 3 crore on Ramkrishna, Rs 2 crore each on the National Stock Exchange, Subramanian, former NSE MD and CEO Ravi Narain

Chitra Ramkrishna was the MD and CEO of NSE from April 2013 to December 2016. Image: Getty

New Delhi: The Income Tax (I-T) Department on Thursday conducted raids on the premises of former NSE managing director and chief executive officer Chitra Ramkrishna and group operating officer Anand Subramanian in Mumbai in connection with a tax evasion case, official sources said.

According to a PTI report, the searches were conducted to gather evidences on the charges of financial irregularities and alleged tax evasion against Ramkrishna and Subramanian.

Ramkrishna was in the headlines recently after a Sebi order which said that she was steered by a Himalayan yogi in the appointment of Anand Subramanian as NSE's group operating officer and advisor to the managing director. The Sebi order said that Ramkrishna shared some confidential information, including financial and business plans of NSE, dividend scenario, and financial results with the yogi and even consulted him over the performance appraisals of the exchange’s employees.

Ramkrishna was the MD and CEO of NSE from April 2013 to December 2016.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India in its order charged Ramkrishna and others for alleged lapses in the appointment of Subramanian as the chief strategic advisor and his re-designation as group operating officer and advisor to MD.

Meanwhile, the market regulator has levied a penalty of Rs 3 crore on Ramkrishna, Rs 2 crore each on the National Stock Exchange (NSE), Subramanian, former NSE MD and CEO Ravi Narain, and Rs 6 lakh on V R Narasimhan, who was the chief regulatory officer and compliance officer.

The Sebi noted in its order that she refused to reveal the identity of the unknown person and sought to claim that the unknown person is a spiritual force.

Ramkrishna and Subramanian have been restrained from associating with any market infrastructure institution or any intermediary registered with the Sebi for a term of three years, while the same for Narain is two years.

The Sebi has also directed NSE to forfeit the excess leave encashment of Rs 1.54 crore and the deferred bonus of Rs 2.83 crore of Ramkrishna, also the regulator barred NSE from launching any product for six months.

“The finance ministry and the prime minister should come out with a white paper on the state of affairs of the National Stock Exchange and on the shocking activities of an invisible Baba who was dictating terms to the former CEO of the exchange,” Congress spokesperson Gourav Vallabh said.