The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which is probing certain irregularities at the National Stock Exchange (NSE), questioned Anand Subramanian, the former group operating officer (GOO) of the bouse. Mr Subramanian was appointed as a chief strategic advisor and promoted as group chief operating officer by Chitra Ramkrishna, former managing director (MD) and chief executive officer (CEO) of NSE. Mr Subramanian, who was appointed to his position, despite lack of experience and paid a hefty salary, was ‘evasive’ during the enquiry, sources from CBI told IANS.
A source told the agency that Mr Subramanian’s statements were recorded for three consecutive days at Chennai.
“His statement is over. We have asked him not to leave the country. He will be summoned again whenever we will have a need. He was evasive throughout the questioning,” the CBI source says.
Mr Subramanian, who was brought to the NSE by its then CEO and MD Chitra Ramkrishna, reportedly had access to the email ID on which the emails were sent to the “Himalayan yogi” with whom the classified informations was shared.
Another team of the CBI searched the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) office in Mumbai, and recovered some incriminating documents, evidences and digital documents.
“These are crucial documents and evidences nailing the lies of the accused involved in the case. We are in process of making a foolproof case against all the accused. These will help the prosecution in proving our case when it will go to court,” the source told IANS.
Last week, CBI grilled Ravi Narain, the MD and CEO of NSE before Ms Ramkrishna. He then had became shareholder director and vice-chairman of NSE before resigning in June 2017.
Earlier, it was speculated that he had fled to London but the CBI source confirmed that Mr Narain is very much in India and his statement was recorded.
“Ravi was asked to join the investigation. He responded to our summon. He was called at a Delhi office where he was grilled. He is also a suspect in the case,” the source from CBI told IANS.
He was too evasive and tried to evade a lot of questions. He also requested that the lookout circular (LoC) issued against him should be closed.
Last week, Chitra Ramkrishna, the ex-MD and CEO of NSE, was grilled by the CBI in Mumbai. On 18th February, she recorded her statement with the agency.
The CBI had asked her around 50 questions. She had tried to play the victim card by claiming she did not know a lot of things. She had also claimed that she was innocent and somebody was trying to frame her.
CBI had asked her, for how long she had been sending emails to Yogi Baba, was she given any cut for sharing classified information, if yes, where did she invest the money.
The CBI had already issued an LoC against Chitra, Anand Subramanian, the former Group Operating official and Ravi Narain, the ex-NSE CEO (before Chitra).
Sources told IANS that Chitra and two others involved in the case were a flight risk and, hence, the LoCs were issued. Arrests in the case are now more likely. “There was a flight risk. There were possibilities that they may flee abroad and we issued the LoC by way of taking preventive steps,” sources had told IANS.
CBI has already lodged a first information report (FIR) against Ms Ramkrishna based on the 192-page order passed by SEBI. SEBI recently penalised Ms Ramkrishna for passing sensitive information about NSE to this unknown or faceless spiritual entity residing in the Himalayas.
Last Thursday, The income tax (I-T) department conducted searches at the Mumbai and Chennai residence of Ms Ramkrishna. At around 7am, about eight officials from the I-T department landed at the home of Ms Ramkrisha and her mother’s house. Ms Ramkrishna stays at Chembur. Her mother stays in a separate house.
The I-T department also carried out a search operation at the residence of Mr Subramanian, who had remained a mystery for everyone outside NSE. The searches were aimed to check charges of tax evasion and financial irregularities against her and others, a media report says quoting officials. (Read: The Mysterious Anand Subramanian, Raided Today along with Chitra Ramkrishna)
During the searches, icriminating documents were recovered from the residences of Ms Ramkrishna. The I-T department scanned various transactions and digital records. They also recorded the statements of a few of her employees.
In an
order issued on 11 February 2022, SEBI barred Chitra Ramkrishna, Ravi Narain, former vice-chairman and Anand Subramanian, former group operating officer (GOO) and adviser to MD and CEO, from associating with any market infrastructure institution (MII) or any intermediary registered with SEBI. While imposing a monetary penalty of Rs3 crore on Ms Ramkrishna, the market regulator has asked NSE to forfeit her excess leave encashment of Rs1.54 crore and the deferred bonus of Rs2.83 crore. The market regulator also restricted NSE from launching any new product for six months.
Chitra Ramkrishna resigned from NSE on 2 December 2016. However, SEBI raised serious questions on how the NSE board allowed her to exit from the Exchange, despite the misconduct in appointing and sharing confidential information with an unknown person.
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