The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has recorded the statement of former National Stock Exchange (NSE) managing director Chitra Ramkrishna in connection with the co-location “scam” case.
The statement of Ms. Ramkrishna, who was arrested by the CBI in March, was recorded under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act in the Tihar Jail on two occasions. Her bail plea was rejected by a special CBI court, following which she has approached the Delhi High Court.
The money laundering probe is based on the CBI’s case and its recent charge sheet against Ms. Ramkrishna and former NSE group operating officer, Anand Subramanian, who was arrested by the agency in February.
In the charge sheet, the agency has alleged that Ms. Ramkrishna had coerced the then NSE’s Human Resources department to hire Mr. Subramanian as the chief strategic advisor in 2013. During her tenure, accused stock broker firm OPG Securities gained preferential access to the NSE data feed through its secondary server.
‘Unlawful’ gain
It is alleged that from January 2010 to May 2015, the company had logged on to the secondary server for 670 trading days. It made an “unlawful” gain of about ₹15.57 crore, according to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).
Mr. Ramkrishna held the post of NSE managing director and chief executive officer from April 1, 2013, to December 2, 2016.
Last week, the agency conducted searches at more than 10 locations and expanded its investigation in the case after the suspected role of several trading members in the “scam” surfaced during the scrutiny of the documents gathered from the SEBI. The data seized during the searches is being analysed for further clues.
