NSE co-location case: ED questions former police commissioner

Pandey, a 1986 batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, was questioned on the activities and functioning of iSec Securities, a private firm that conducted a security audit of NSE when the alleged irregularities took place.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday questioned former Mumbai police commissioner Sanjay Pandey in connection with its money laundering probe in the National Stock Exchange (NSE) co-location scam.

About a dozen brokers are under the CBI scanner for misusing the co-location facility, HT reported on May 22. (HT File photo)

Pandey, a 1986 batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, was questioned on the activities and functioning of iSec Securities, a private firm that conducted a security audit of NSE when the alleged irregularities took place, people familiar with the development said.

Pandey had incorporated iSec Securities in March 2001 and quit as its director in May 2006. His son and mother then took over charge of the company. Investigators want to understand the mandate, operations and results achieved by the company while it worked with the NSE, the officials cited above said, seeking anonymity.

Pandey retired from service on June 30. He was Mumbai police commissioner for four months before retirement and also served as acting director general of police of Maharashtra.

The NSE co-location scam is being probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the ED since 2018. When Chitra Ramkrishna was chief executive officer of the bourse between 2010 and 2015, several stockbroking companies had preferential access to the server through which they got the data split-second faster, getting “an unfair advantage”, it has been alleged.

Ramkrishna was appointed as joint managing director of the NSE in 2009 and continued till March 2013, according to CBI. Thereafter, she took over as managing director and CEO on April 1, 2013, and remained till 2016. It was during this period that the co-location swindle allegedly took place.

The agency arrested her on March 6, while Anand Subramanian, former group operating officer of NSE, was arrested on February 25.

About a dozen brokers are under the CBI scanner for misusing the co-location facility, HT reported on May 22. The sleuths are also investigating role of several officials of NSe and market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India, who have given unfair advantage to the brokers.