INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
A Delhi court has denied anticipatory bail to former CEO of NSE Chitra RamkrishnaNew Delhi: A Delhi court on Saturday denied anticipatory
bail to the former chief executive officer (CEO) of National Stock Exchange (NSE), Chitra Ramkrishna, in the NSE co-location case and
disapproved of the CBI's "lackadaisical" conduct, saying no action seems to have been taken against the main scam beneficiaries for last
four year.Special judge Sanjeev Aggarwal while dismissing the anticipatory bail of Ms Ramkrishna observed that this kind of co-location
swindle could not have been possible without the knowledge and active connivance of all the functional heads of NSE at the relevant time
and this period can be considered as dark period in the history of NSE.The judge noted that the accused were facing grave allegations and
the investigation was at the most nascent stage
He also pulled up market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), saying it had been "too kind and gentle" with the
accused.“It has to follow a path towards a journey which has just begun, at the same time the conduct of the investigating agency i.e
CBI is most lackadaisical, to say the least, as no action seems to have been taken against main beneficiaries of the present co-location
scam, (the names of some of whom are mentioned in the FIR itself) and others for almost four full years, who seems to be enjoying merrily at
the expense of common citizenry for the reasons best known,” the judge said.Further even SEBI despite being the capital market watchdog
has been too kind and gentle qua the accused persons in the present FIR /RC, the judge noted.The court rejected the pre-arrest bail
application, saying economic offences had deep-rooted conspiracies involving huge loss of public funds.“Since in the present case huge
loss of public money may be involved, it needs to be viewed seriously and considered as grave offence(s) affecting the economy of the
country as a whole and thereby causing serious threat to the financial health of the country; "'And since economic offences constitute a
class apart, therefore, it needs to be visited with a different approach in the matter of bail as economic offence(s) have deep-rooted
conspiracies involving huge loss of public funds,” the court said.It said that the chances of the accused fleeing from justice were remote
However, being in pole position in the NSE earlier, there were strong chances that she may influence and tamper with the evidence, as she
was the joint managing director (MD) as well as MD and CEO of the NSE, the role of which is under investigation under the present
co-location scam.“There are many facets of the investigations which have to be excavated by the investigating agency after removing the
dust of time over them,” the judge said.He said that the magnitude of the present case may be huge, as due to this financial skulduggery,
a huge loss may have been caused to adherent stockbrokers, institutional investors, foreign institutional investors and honest investors,
whose faith in this premier financial institution, i.e
NSE may have been severely shaken and dented.“Considering the overall facts and circumstances of the case and in view of the grave and
serious allegations against the applicant/accused as above, no ground for anticipatory bail is made out at this stage
The same stands dismissed,” the judge said.The CBI had recently questioned Ramkrishna in the matter
The income tax department earlier raided various premises linked to Chitra Ramkrishna in Mumbai and Chennai.Ms Ramkrishna has also been on
the radar of the SEBI.Recently the CBI court had sent Anand Subramanian, former Group Operating Officer and advisor to Ramkrishna, to CBI
custody.He was arrested by the CBI from Chennai in connection with the NSE case.The arrest was made in the case related to the co-location
scam, the FIR for which was registered in May 2018, amid fresh revelations about irregularities at the country's largest stock exchange.The
CBI is probing the alleged improper dissemination of information from the computer servers of the market exchanges to the
stockbrokers.(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by TheIndianSubcontinent staff and is published from a syndicated
