CBI court refuses to grant anticipatory bail to NSE ex Chief Chitra Ramkrishna

A Special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court of Delhi on Saturday refused to grant anticipatory bail to former managing director and chief executive officer of National Stock Exchange (NSE) Chitra Ramkrishna in connection with the NSE co-location case.

Special CBI Judge Sanjeev Aggarwal after hearing both the parties at length and after consideration of the entire material decided not to give anticipatory bail to Chitra Ramkrishna.

The same court earlier, while keeping the order reserved, also had said no good ground for ad-interim protection from arrest is made out in favour of the applicant/accused at this stage.

The CBI recently had questioned Chitra Ramkrishna in the matter. The Income Tax (IT) Department earlier raided various premises linked to Ramkrishna in Mumbai and Chennai.

Ramkrishna has also been on the radar of the market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).

Recently, the CBI court had remanded Anand Subramanian, former Group Operating Officer and adviser to former MD of National Stock Exchange Chitra Ramkrishna, who was arrested by CBI from Chennai in connection with the NSE case.

The CBI investigation stated that group operating Officer Anand Subramanian's appointment was influenced by NSE chairman and MD Chitra Ramakrishnan.

The CBI is probing the alleged improper dissemination of information from the computer servers of the market exchanges to the stockbrokers.

Earlier, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has penalized the National Stock Exchange (NSE) and its former CEOs Chitra Ramakrishna and Ravi Narayan and two other officials for lapses in recruitment at the senior level.

Ravi Narain was the MD and CEO of the National Stock Exchange from April 1994 till March 2013, while Chitra Ramkrishna was MD and CEO of the NSE from April 2013 to December 2016.

The market regulators observed that the NSE and its top executives violated securities contract norms relating to the appointment of Anand Subramaniam as group operating officer and adviser to the managing director.

( With inputs from ANI )