CHENNAI, FEB 25
The CBI has arrested former Group Operating Officer (GOO) of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) Anand Subramanian , from Chennai on Thursday night, in connection to the ‘co-location’ NSE case.
The arrest was done in view of “fresh facts” emerging in a damning Sebi report, officials said on Friday. Subramanian was one of ex-NSE MD Chitra Ramakrishna’s top advisors and was questioned regarding the identity of the mysterious ‘Himalayan Baba’ who guided the ex-NSE MD for over 20 years over key decisions.
Subramanian has been questioned consecutively for three days in Chennai about his role at the exchange, and how he landed as the group operating officer, besides his association with then MD and CEO Chitra Ramkrishna. Along with this, the CBI team has also visited the SEBI office in Mumbai and collected certain documents in connection with the case. The NSE’s forensic report had hinted that the Baba may be Subramanian, which has not been accepted by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).
As per reports, many whistleblower emails were sent to SEBI in 2015 and 2016 regarding alleged abuse of the exchange’s co-location facility to make gains by getting early access to the stock market. After SEBI received complaints on Subramanian’s elevation, it initiated a probe into it. CBI has booked owner and promoter of OPG Securities Sanjay Gupta and others in connection to the co-location case. Ramakrishna and Subramanian resigned from the NSE in 2016 and the board let her resign without highlighting her ‘grave financial irregularities’.
On February 17, the I-T department raided ex-NSE MD Chitra Ramakrishna and NSE group operating officer (GOO) Anand Subramanian after the SEBI report revealed that she had been guided by a mysterious spiritual guru for the last 20 years in key decisions on NSE. The I-T dept was raiding her after allegations of tax evasion and financial irregularities surfaced against her and passing internal information of NSE to the guru she referred as a ‘Himalayan Baba’. SEBI has penalised Ramakrishna of Rs 3 crores and Rs 2 crore each on NSE, Subramanian, Narain. The NSE has been barred from launching any new product for six months.
