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ED revives its probe into NSE fraud case
The agency is also preparing to take custody of former NSE CEO Chitra Ramkrishna and former group operating officer Anand Subramanian
Reviving its money laundering probe into the National Stock Exchange (NSE) co-location fraud case, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) last month questioned former chief executive officer (CEO) Ravi Narain and two former chief technology officers (CTOs) Umesh Jain and Ravi Apte, people familiar with the matter said.
The agency is also preparing to take custody of former NSE CEO Chitra Ramkrishna and former group operating officer (GOO) Anand Subramanian who were arrested on March 6 and February 25, respectively, by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in connection with its 2018 probe into the alleged stock market manipulation.
“The law enforcement agency summoned Narain, who served as managing director (MD) and CEO of NSE from 1994 to 2013, Apte, who served as CTO from 2007 to 2012 and Jain who was the CTO between 2012 and 2015 for questioning at its headquarters last month, besides several other officers, to understand the lapses in functioning of the exchange,” one of the persons cited above said, seeking anonymity.
While Narain did not respond to HT’s calls, Jain refused to comment on the ED probe. Apte could not be located for a comment on the matter.
In the co-location case registered by CBI in 2018, the central probe agency booked a Delhi-based stock broker OPG Securities Pvt Ltd and its owner, Sanjay Gupta, for allegedly making gains by getting early access to the stock market trading system. The agency was also probing unidentified officials of markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) and the NSE, Mumbai, and other unknown persons in the case.
On February 11, Sebi charged Ramkrishna with alleged governance lapses in the appointment of Subramanian as the chief strategic advisor and his re-designation as group operating officer and advisor to MD. The regulator also imposed a fine of ₹3 crore on Ramkrishna, ₹2 crore each on NSE, Subramanian and Narain, and ₹6 lakh on V R Narasimhan, the chief regulatory and compliance officer.
The ED intends to dig deeper into the alleged irregularities in the wake of new facts that have emerged during the CBI probe and in a February 11 report by Sebi, the person cited above said.
The Sebi report referred to a ‘mysterious yogi’ guiding the actions of Ramkrishna. Some brokers had allegedly been given preferential and unfair access to NSE’s trading system to the detriment of others.
The CBI, however, is not yet convinced that Subramanian is the ‘yogi with whom Ramkrishna shared confidential internal information on an email ID ‘rigyajursama@outlook.com’ between 2013 and 2016.
The ED has been probing the case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) since January 2019 on the basis of the CBI’s 2018 first information report (FIR).
The ED also attached properties worth ₹39 crore belonging to OPG Securities Pvt Ltd and Gupta in January 2021. The attached properties included five houses and a plot in Delhi, four plots in Ghaziabad and a commercial building in Dehradun, the people cited above said.
The central anti-money laundering probe agency has now renewed its probe to investigate whether beneficiaries of laundering included NSE officials and other ‘unknown’ individuals.
The anti-corruption agency is expected to file a charge sheet in the matter this month.
