The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday arrested Chitra Ramkrishna, the former managing director of the National Stock Exchange (NSE), in connection with a money laundering probe related to the alleged illegal phone tapping of NSE employees during 2009-17.
Ms. Ramkrishna was previously in judicial custody in the NSE co-location “scam” case. Based on a First Information Report (FIR) registered recently by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the ED has initiated its probe under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act and arrested her.
In the CBI case, among those arraigned are Ms. Ramkrishna, former NSE managing director Ravi Narain, the exchange’s the then executive vice-president Ravi Varanasi and head (premises) Mahesh Haldipur; former Mumbai Police Commissioner Sanjay Pandey and Delhi-based iSec Services Private Limited. The company’s directors Santosh Pandey, Anand Narayan, Armaan Pandey and Manish Mittal, its then senior information security analyst Naman Chaturvedi and one Arun Kumar Singh have also been named.
According to the CBI, the case was registered on a reference from the Ministry of Home Affairs about the alleged illegal interception of NSE employees’ telephones conducted by its top management in conspiracy with iSec Services.
“It was alleged that during 2009-17, then MD [Mr. Narain], then DMD [Ms. Ramkrishna], then executive vice-president and then head (premises) of the NSE and the private company conspired to illegally intercept the telephones of NSE employees,” the agency had earlier said.
The company was engaged by the accused officials on the pretext of carrying out a “periodic study of cyber vulnerabilities” at the NSE. The transcripts of intercepted calls were allegedly provided by the company to them. About Rs.4.45 crore was paid for the job, the CBI has alleged. iSec Services was set up by Mr. Pandey and another person in March 2001, following which his mother and son took over in May 2006.
Earlier this year, the CBI had arrested Ms. Ramkrishna and the then group operating officer Anand Subramanian in the co-location “scam” case.
