CBI arrests ex-GOO of NSE Anand Subramaniam

Former operating officer of National Stock Exchange Group, Anand Subramaniam was arrested by the CBI late on Thursday night. According to the CBI, he was arrested in connection with the NSE co-location scam. This is the first arrest in the scam that happened a few years back. According to CBI sources, former NSE chief operations officer Anand Subramaniam was the ‘Yogi’ who had contacted Chitra Ramakrishna, the then head of the stock exchange, via email. 

It is being told that Anand Subramaniam was arrested from his Chennai house. Preparations are on to take him to the CBI headquarters in Delhi, after which he will be produced in the court for custody. 

Anand was not cooperating in the investigation. 

CBI has already questioned Anand Subramaniam in the NSE co-location scam. According to CBI sources, Anand was not cooperating with the probe agency. CBI wants to get more information from him about the e-mail conversation between unknown Yogi and Chitra. 

Who is the Yogi of Himalayas? 

Baba’s email id [email protected] has been received regarding who is the Yogi of Himalayas. Chitra Ramakrishna told SEBI during interrogation that Yogi is Paramhansa. Live somewhere in the Himalayan range. They had met twenty years ago during a pilgrimage on the banks of the Ganges. 

Chitra used to ask that incorporeal Baba through email that which employee has to give how many ratings and who has to be promoted. All the important information of the National Stock Exchange was shared with Baba. Even the agenda of the board meeting was given to Baba. According to Chitra, the yogi could appear anywhere he wanted. 

Is Anand Subramaniam the only yogi? 

From SEBI investigation it seems that Yogi is none other than Anand Subramaniam. According to SEBI, NSE had also reached the same conclusion in its investigation. The forensic audit of consultancy firm E&Y also said that Ramakrishna was himself being directed by Anand Subramaniam. Skype accounts with the names “anand.subramanian9” and “sironmani.10” were found on Subramaniam’s desktop. These accounts were linked to ‘[email protected]’ and Subramaniam’s mobile number. 

Anand left NSE after allegations in 2016. 

Anand Subramaniam was first appointed as Chief Strategic Advisor to the National Stock Exchange (NSE) in 2013. After this, MD Chitra Ramakrishna promoted him as the Group Operating Officer of NSE in 2015. Anand left the National Stock Exchange in 2016 after being accused of irregularities. 

Allegations of disturbances in Anand’s promotion. 

The CBI has said in its investigation that the appointment of Anand Subramaniam was done by Chitra Ramakrishnan. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) accused Chitra Ramakrishna and others of appointing Subramaniam as Chief Strategic Advisor and rigging his promotion as Group Operating Officer and Advisor to MD. 

The market regulator has imposed a fine of Rs 3 crore on Chitra Ramakrishna, Rs 2 crore on former NSE MD and CEO Subramaniam, former NSE MD and CEO Ravi Narayan and Rs 6 lakh on Chief Regulator Officer and Compliance Officer VR Narasimhan. 

Giving access to co-location facility led to scam. 

In the NSE co-location scam, select brokers were unfairly benefited. Its investigation revealed that it was given access to co-location facilities to benefit a brokerage firm named OPG Securities. The brokers present in this facility get all the data much earlier than the rest. 

Crores of rupees were misappropriated. 

CBI believes that crores of rupees were manipulated in NSE. This scam started at the same time when Chitra was very close to being promoted to number two status and becoming number one. The scam continued even after Chitra became CEO and Anand had become his closest associate. CBI is looking for the connection of that unknown yogi in this case, on whose behest Chitra was taking all the decisions of NSE. 

Anand got more than 9 times package in NSE. 

After a recent order of SEBI, the information about this whole matter came out in the open. In 2013, NSE CEO and MD Chitra Ramakrishna hired Anand Subramaniam as the Chief Strategy Officer (COO), as per a SEBI order. 

Anand Subramaniam was doing a job of Rs 15 lakh before joining NSE. In NSE, he was given a package of Rs 1.38 crore, increasing more than 9 times. After this he got frequent promotions and he became Group Operating Officer (GOO) in no time. 

Published By- Bharat Anand

Editor- Kritika Kashyap