The Delhi High Court granted bail to Chitra Ramkrishna, earlier Chief Executive Officer of the National Stock Exchange (NSE), on Thursday. She was convicted in a money laundering case filed against her by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in relation to the NSE phone-tapping case.
Table of Contents
The bail was granted by Justice Jasmeet Singh, after having booked orders about the situation on November 15, 2022.
It is reported that in this case the mobile phones of NSE employees were unlawfully tapped. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) have claimed that the illegal tapping of MTNL phones was destructive to the Telegraph Act. Also, it was asserted that ₹4.54 crores were paid for the purpose of tapping phones, which becomes the result of the crime.
Earlier, the former Mumbai Police Commissioner Sanjay Pandey, who was convicted in the same case was also granted bail by the court.
In her recent bail plea, Chitra Ramakrishna argued that she had no association with brokers, and as specified by the investigation, not a single of them had been arrested.
According to Chitra Ramakrishna’s lawyer, Senior Advocate Rebecca John the accusations against the petitioner do not fall in accordance with the framework of the scheduled offenses, and hence, the rigidness of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) will not be valid in this case.
Rebecca John also said that as the applicant is a woman, she falls within the provisions of Section 45(1) of the PMLA.
How did Chitra Ramkrishna got caught up in this situation?
It all started in February 2022, when the ED got suspected of the management of the National Stock Exchange (NSE). A lot of charges were filed against Chitra Ramkrishna, and hence, the case was handed over to the CBI.
Chitra Ramkrishna is facing cases filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED). These cases are regarding the accusations that she was participating in various financial misconduct in connection to the fixation and frequent revisions of remunerations of fellow former NSE employee Anand Subramanian in an illegal manner.
In 2013, Chitra Ramakrishna was elevated to the position of CEO, soon after which she designated Anand Subramanian as her adviser, and after a few months, promoted him to Group Operating Officer. However, no one raised a question against the decision as the CEO had the authority to do so.
The angle of “Siddha Purush”
The 59-year-old Chitra Ramkrishna is alleged to have done all the financial misconduct and she was asked to do this by a “Himalayan Yogi”, whom she considers to be a “Siddha Purush”.
However, the investigating agencies are not willing to accept something so unreal, therefore, they argued that this Himalayan yogi who is claimed to be a “Siddha Purush” is Anand Subramanian himself.
Chitra Ramkrishna told the investigating officers that she was guided by this “Siddha Purush” while taking all the significant decisions of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) that affected the business of the stock exchange.
She told that because of the Himalayan Yogi, the daily average turnover was recorded of well above Rs 2 lakh crore the year before, in 2021. She also claimed that this turnover ranks as the largest derivatives exchange around the globe, and in terms of the number of trades, the fourth largest for cash equities.
Chitra Ramkrishna claimed that she was in touch with the Yogi through E-mails, where they had all the key conversations, and that she had never met him in person. This revelation shocked the people who were indulged in National Stock Exchange (NSE), however, experts assured them that there is no need to worry.
