The CBI has arrested former NSE group operating officer Anand Subramanian in connection with alleged irregularities in National Stock Exchange, Press Trust of India reported, citing officials. He was questioned for days in Chennai before the agency decided to arrest him, the officials said. The investigating agency had earlier questioned Subramanian about his role at the exchange, how he landed as the group operating officer at the NSE, besides his association with then MD and CEO Chitra Ramkrishna.
The CBI had also questioned former NSE CEOs Ramkrishna and Ravi Narain. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) had charged Ramkrishna and others with alleged governance lapses in the appointment of Subramanian as the chief strategic advisor and his re-designation as group operating officer and adviser to the MD. A team of CBI officials also visited the market regulator Sebi's office in Mumbai recently to collect certain documents.
Ramkrishna was MD and CEO of NSE from April 2013 to December 2016, Narain was the MD and CEO of the exchange from April 1994 till March 2013. Thereafter, he was appointed as vice-chairman in the non-executive category on the NSE's board from April 2013 and remained so till June 2017.
Ramkrishna hit the headlines after a SEBI order on February 11 said that she was steered by a yogi, dwelling in the Himalayan ranges, in the appointment of Anand Subramanian as the exchange's group operating officer and advisor to the managing director (MD).
SEBI has levied a fine of ₹3 crore on Ramkrishna, ₹2 crore each on the National Stock Exchange (NSE), Subramanian, and former NSE MD and CEO Ravi Narain, and ₹6 lakh on V R Narasimhan, who was the chief regulatory officer and compliance officer.
The central probe agency had also booked owner of a broking firm and others in connection with alleged abuse of NSE co-location facility to make gains by getting early access to the stock market.
"It was alleged that the owner and promoter of a private company abused the server architecture of NSE in conspiracy with unknown officials of NSE. It was also alleged that unknown officials of NSE, Mumbai had provided unfair access to the said company using the co-location facility during the period 2010-2012 that enabled it to login first to the exchange server of Stock Exchange that helped to get the data before any other broker in the market," the CBI has alleged in the FIR.
