NSE Co-Location Scam: CBI Carries Out Search Operations In Multiple Cities

The CBI, according to officials, has filed a chargesheet against former NSE CEO and MD Chitra Ramkrishna and Group Operating Officer Anand Subramanian in the case.

Former NSE MD and CEO Chitra Ramkrishna. (File Photo/ Getty)

New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Saturday launched a coordinated search operation at over 10 locations in multiple cities in connection with the National Stock Exchange (NSE) co-location scam case, officials said, PTI reported. The officials added the central probe agency’s search operation will cover brokers at more than 12 premises in Mumbai, Gandhinagar, Delhi, Noida, Gurugram and Kolkata among other cities.

The CBI, according to officials, has filed a chargesheet against former NSE CEO and MD Chitra Ramkrishna and Group Operating Officer Anand Subramanian in the case.

The investigation has so far established that Ramkrishna, one of the accused in the FIR, had connected to the secondary POP server on 670 trading days in the “Futures and Options” segment when she was managing the affairs of the NSE, OPG Securities.

The central probe agency, according to PTI, has kept the investigation open into allegations of preferential access granted to certain brokers by the NSE officials and undue gains made out of it during the tenure of Ramkrishna and Subramanian.

Ramkrishna, who succeeded former CEO Ravi Narain in 2013, had appointed Subramanian as her adviser.

The officials said Subramanian was later elevated as the Group Operating Officer at a fat pay cheque of Rs 4.21 crore annually.

Subramanian’s controversial appointment and subsequent elevation, besides crucial decisions, were guided by an unidentified person, who Ramkrishna claimed was a formless mysterious “yogi” (mystic) dwelling in the Himalayas, a probe into her e-mail exchanges during a SEBI-ordered audit had shown, according to the news agency.

Earlier on Friday, the Delhi High Court sought the CBI’s response on Ramkrishna’s bail plea in connection with the co-location case. Justice Sudhir Kumar Jain issued notice on the bail application and listed the case for further hearing on May 31.