NSE Co-Location Case: Delhi High Court Grants Bail To Chitra Ramkrishna, Anand Subramanian

Subramanian was arrested by the CBI on February 24, while the central agency had arrested Ramkrishna on March 6, a day after her anticipatory bail application was dismissed by a trial court

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday granted bail to former National Stock Exchange (NSE) head Chitra Ramkrishna and former group operating officer Anand Subramanian in the co-location scam case, the PTI reported. The case is being probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

On Wednesday, Justice Sudhir Kumar Jain said he was granting "statutory bail" to the two former officials of the NSE. A detailed copy of the order is awaited.

An FIR was registered in the case in May 2018, amid fresh revelations about irregularities at the country's largest stock exchange. The CBI is probing the alleged improper dissemination of information from the computer servers of the market exchanges to stock brokers.

Subramanian was arrested by the CBI on February 24, while the central agency had arrested Ramkrishna on March 6, a day after her anticipatory bail application was dismissed by a trial court.

In a status report filed in the bail plea by Subramanian, the CBI said the investigation has established that co-accused Ramkrishna abused her official position at NSE to illegally appoint him as the Chief Strategic Advisor and also arbitrarily and disproportionately hiked his compensation and re-designated him as group operating officer without requisite approvals.

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

The agency further claimed that Ramkrishna was communicating with an external email-id being operated by Subramanian and examination of witnesses was being carried out to unearth the whole conspiracy in the case.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on February 11 had charged Ramkrishna and others with alleged governance lapses in the appointment of Anand Subramanian as the chief strategic advisor and his re-designation as group operating officer and advisor to MD.

Earlier, the capital market regulator had imposed penalties on 18 entities, including NSE, Ramakrishna, Subramanian, and others in connection with the NSE co-location case.

The Sebi imposed a cumulative penalty of Rs 43.8 crore on the 18 entities, with the NSE alone slapped a Rs 7-crore fine, while Rs 5 crore on Chitra Ramakrishna, Rs 5 crore on Anand Subramanian, and Rs 5 crore on Ravi Varanasi.