NSE co-location case: Court extends Chitra Ramkrishna’s custody till April 11

Delhi court on Monday extended the judicial custody of the former managing director and chief executive officer of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) Chitra Ramkrishna till April 11 in the co-location case. Court will shortly pass the order on the application by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) seeking handwriting samples of Ramkrishna during the custody, as per news agency ANI.

Ongoing investigation in the NSE scam, in which Ramkrishna has been indicted, also became a talking point in today’s Parliament session. Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary told the Lok Sabha that the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has not come across any instance to suggest that the co-location was caused by the installation of a small device.

He said, “Co-location issue at NSE was caused by NSE not exercising the requisite due diligence while putting in place the TBT market data feed dissemination architecture.” He also noted that allegations in the case are that of preferential access and do not involve any foreign exchange.

Sebi also passed several orders against M/s OPG Securities Private Limited and initiated adjudication proceedings against various entities in the matter of preferential access to Tick-by-Tick (TBT) data feed to certain trading members.

He also underscored, “SEBI after thorough examination initiated proceedings against NSE and other entities and consequently passed orders in the matter of NSE collocation TBT data, NSE-Dark Fibre and NSE corporate governance.”

Chaudhary added that the CBI has registered a case in 2018 under sections 120B and 204 of the Indian Penal Code and sections 7, 12, 13(2) with 13(1) (d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 and Section 66 of Information Technology Act, 2000.

The union minister also noted that the CBI has informed substantial progress has been made vis-à-vis the investigation of the case. Chaudhary mentioned that the Income Tax department has carried out investigations to discover tax evasion in case of a few individuals and entities allegedly involved in the NSE scam.