The CBI probe may lead to the identification of those responsible for the disposal of the laptops that had been assigned to former National Stock Exchange (NSE) group operating officer Anand Subramanian and then exchange's managing director Chitra Ramkrishna.
As highlighted in the February 11 order of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), during a forensic investigation conducted at the NSE’s instance, only the desktops given to Mr. Subramanian and Ms. Ramkrishna were imaged or checked. The laptops were not available as they had been disposed of as e-waste.
Also, exchanges with the unknown “Himalayan yogi” through private email accounts could not be accessed, the order said.
Earlier this week, the CBI arrested Mr. Subramanian in connection with an alleged scam wherein certain stock brokers were given preferential access to the exchange’s data feed from 2010 to 2014, through the co-location facility and then by allowing log–in to its backup servers. He is in the agency’s custody.
The CBI is examining the sequence of events leading up to the scam. As it turns out, Ravi Narain — already examined once by the agency — was the managing director and chief executive officer of the NSE from April 1994 till March 31, 2013. Vide a letter dated January 18, 2013, Mr. Subramanian was offered the post of chief strategic advisor with effect from April 1, 2013. His wife was then working as the NSE regional head in Chennai.
After Mr. Narain took over as the NSE vice–chairman, Ms. Ramkrishna became the managing director and chief executive officer. It is alleged that she had email exchanges with the unknown person from 2013 to 2016, through her official ID and a personal account. The person at the other end used rigyajursama@outlook.com, an account allegedly created by Mr. Subramanian.
While the alleged co-location scam was reported to the SEBI by a ‘whistleblower’ in January 2015, it is not yet clear when exactly the senior NSE functionaries had come to know about it.
The SEBI order points out that during its investigation into the co-location issue, the Board came across certain evidence showing that Ms. Ramkrishna had allegedly shared NSE's internal files with the unknown person. It sought a clarification in May-August 2018. In response, the exchange shared the forensic investigation report, concurring with its finding that the “unknown person” was Mr. Subramanian.
According to the order, which differed with that conclusion, it was following the SEBI letter on September 15, 2016, that the issue of Mr. Subramanian’s appointment was discussed in the exchange’s Nomination and Remuneration Committee (NRC) meeting and then he stepped down on October 21, 2016.
In November 2016, the email exchanges between Ms. Ramkrishna and the unknown person were brought to the notice of the chairman of the NSE Board and the NRC chairman by Deloitte and the same were shared with the Board by the chairman on November 29, 2016.
However, on December 2, 2016, “in spite of having knowledge of such grave irregularities and misconduct on the part of” Ms. Ramkrishna, she was allowed to resign and no action was taken in this regard. The NSE and its Board had also appreciated her on record while accepting her resignation with immediate effect.
Ms. Ramkrishna had joined the exchange as an executive in the early 1990s, while Mr. Narain — who stepped down as the NSE vice–chairman in 2017 — was one of its co–founders.
