CBI questions former NSE chief Chitra Ramkrishna

CBI officers said they also issued look out circulars against Ramkrishna, Anand Subramanian, former NSE group operating officer, and Ravi Narain, the NSE’s former MD and CEO, in order to prevent them from leaving the country.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) was questioning Chitra Ramkrishna, former managing director and CEO of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) for over eight hours on Friday in connection with a 2018 case.

A file photo of Chitra Ramkrishna. (REUTERS)

CBI officers said they also issued look out circulars against Ramkrishna, Anand Subramanian, former NSE group operating officer, and Ravi Narain, the NSE’s former MD and CEO, in order to prevent them from leaving the country.

The central agency’s move comes a week after market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) imposed a fine of ₹3 crore on Ramkrishna for having shared confidential information related to the NSE with an unknown individual whom she believed to be a “yogi” residing somewhere in the Himalayan region.

A Sebi order on February 11 revealed that important decisions taken by Ramkrishna between 2014 and 2016 as the NSE chief were influenced by the unnamed “yogi” with whom she communicated on email. However, an investigation conducted by the NSE revealed that the email in question was operated by Subramanian.

The Sebi has imposed fines of ₹2 crore each on Narain and Subramanian.

CBI sources said the 2018 case was registered against the owners of a Delhi-based private company and some unnamed officers of the NSE. It was alleged that the private company in connivance with the NSE officers gained unfair access to the NSE’s database, using a co-location facility that helped the company to log in to the exchange’s server and get access to data that brokers in the market didn’t have.

CBI further alleged that the private company’s owners bribed Sebi officers after the market regulator opened an enquiry, to ensure the probe didn’t go against the firm.