Ex NSE Chief interrogated for 12 hours by CBI

Ex NSE Chief Chitra Ramkrishna was interrogated for 12 hours by CBI for sharing NSE financial data with a Himalayan spiritual guru. 

Investigators suspect the two used code when exchanging emails, indicating the ‘yogi’ guided the ex NSE Chief to run the NSE. 

Ex NSE Chief ‘conned’ by faceless yogi

Former MD and CEO of NSE took ‘guidance’ over email to make various controversial governance decisions, from a faceless ‘yogi.’ 

Furthermore, while ex NSE Chief took the guidance of a faceless yogi, she never met him in person. 

Moreover, the ‘yogi’ worked as the stock exchange’s chief strategy officer. A position that never existed with an annual salary of Rs 1.68 crore, compared to the previous package of Rs 15 lakh. 

The mysterious Mr. Anand Subramanian

Anand Subramanian was appointed and promoted as group operating officer by ex NSE Chief Chitra Ramkrishna. 

According to the book Absolute Power on NSE written by Sucheta Dalal and Debashis Basu, “A senior NSE executive pointed out how there is little or no information about him on Linkedin or the numerous websites that track corporate profiles. 

Internal guidelines of large international companies such as Paypal say that it is highly suspicious if someone’s footprint has been completely wiped out from the net. Mr. Subramanian, who had no digital footprint, went on to become the group operating officer in a very large, highly technology-intensive and sensitive organization like the NSE, which is a first-line regulator.” 

Furthermore, eight to nine I-T department officials raided ex NSE Chief’s residence in Mumbai. The officials also conducted a search operation at the home of Mr. Subramanian. 

The allegations against the ex NSE Chief are that she made illegal profits by sharing sensitive internal information of NSE to an unknown third party. 

Coded emails between the ‘yogi’ and ex NSE Chief

In February 2017, the ‘yogi’ wrote to the ex NSE Chief, “Keep bags ready I am planning a travel to Seychelles next month, will try if you can come with me, before Kanchan goes to London with Kanchana and Barghava and you to New Zealand with two children. ‘HK is a preferred transit or Singapore for onward journey.’ In case you need help, pl let me know Seshu will do the needful.” 

The emails between Ms. Ramkrishna and the ‘yogi’ date back when India had no information-sharing treaty with Seychelles on black money. 

Furthermore, India signed the information-sharing pact with Seychelles only in August 2015. 

Who is Ms. Chitra Ramkrishna?

The ex NSE Chief is a chartered accountant by training. She has been associated with the NSE as the Chief since 1991. 

While she played a vital role in the growth of the NSE, her fall was steeper than the rise. 

She also played an active role in drafting the legislative framework of the Securities and Exchange Board of India. 

The ex NSE Chief serves on various committees on several policy issues, such as the Committee on Disclosures and Accounting Standards and the Secondary Market Advisory Committee. 

The CBI interrogation

The CBI had registered a case in 2018 and interrogated ex NSE Chief in connection to the case. 

A CBI official said, “In light of the new developments and certain information collected by the CBI, Ramkrishna is being questioned. The agency has also opened lookout circulars against three people in the case including Ramkrishna.” 

Sanjay Gupta, owner and promoter of Delhi-based OPG Securities Pvt Ltd, abused the NSE server architecture. He even bribed SEBI officials in criminal conspiracy with unknown officials of the NSE. 

The FIR by CBI says, “Gupta, with the help of his brother-in-law Aman Kokrady and other unknown persons, managed the data centre staff of NSE, who passed the information regarding switching on time of NSE exchange servers. Further, unknown officials of NSE gave OPG securities Pvt Ltd access to servers which were technologically latest and least crowded at that particular period. This helped OPG Securities Pvt Ltd. in being mostly the first one to log in on the exchange server of the NSE.” 

Lastly, 

As complaints about misgovernance and wrongdoings at the NSE grew, the SEBI conducted a six-year probe. 

Furthermore, the regulator fined the ex NSE Chief and Subramanian Rs 3 crore and Rs 2 crore, respectively.

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