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Synopsis

The Delhi High Court on Friday concluded arguments on the part of former National Stock Exchange (NSE) Managing Director and CEO Chitra Ramkrishna in her bail application. Ramkrishna submitted that it is not Enforcement Directorate's case that Ramkrishna received any kickbacks.

A bench of Justice Jasmeet Singh heard arguments made by Ramkrishna and listed the matter for Enforcement Directorate's arguments on November 1, 2022.

The bail application has been filed by Ramkrishna in a money laundering case pertaining to the alleged illegal phone tapping and snooping of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) employees. It has been alleged that Ramkrishna cheated NSE and its employees between 2009 and 2017. For the purpose of tapping, iSEC Services Pvt Ltd was engaged in the illegal interception of phone calls of NSE employees. ED alleges that iSEC was paid huge sums of money for this purpose.

Senior Advocate Rebecca John appearing for Ramkrishna submitted that the current Managing Director is on bail on the ground that his wife has stage III cancer, whereas, she has been in jail for the last 3 months in this case.

John informed the bench that "as far as I'm (Ramkrishna) concerned, the scheduled offense is 420... and 72, even at this stage, for these offenses one need not have a locus standi. The person reporting the matter under 420 should be the one aggrieved by the offense."

"After going through all the contracts and agreements for the installation of the Monitoring System, to say that NSE was induced would be a complete fallacy in the facts and circumstances of this case," John added.

Whereas, on the query of the bench that the NSE would act through Ramkrishna, John contended that her argument is that NSE could not be defrauded.

It was also argued that it is ED's case that NSE paid money to iSEC Services Pvt Ltd, it's not their case that Ramkrishna received any kickback. Referring to the observation from earlier days when a person can hear a person talking on the phone in a different room in the same house with a parallel phone line, John asked, what has Chitra done?

Furthermore, John submitted that Ramkrishna is similarly placed as that of the current Managing Director.

Concluding her arguments, John submitted that "All the charges except 420 are largely bailable given the limited involvement, what have I done? I have been in custody for over 3 months in this case. My co-accused is out on bail on the ground that his wife is unwell, which is not even in the proviso."

The bench heard the arguments on behalf of Chitra and listed the matter for hearing the respondents on November 1 at 3:00 PM.

ED had earlier arrested former NSE MD Chitra Ramkrishna on July 14 after conducting her interrogation, taking permission from the court, where she was produced from jail on an order passed by the judge earlier.

Case Title: Chitra Ramkrishna Vs. Assistant Director, Enforcement Directorate