Read Time: 07 minutes

On Saturday, the anticipatory bail to former National Stock Exchange (NSE) Managing Director and CEO Chitra Ramakrishna was denied by Delhi's Rouse Avenue Court in NSE co-location case.

The orders denying the pre-arrest bail was pronounced in the court of  Special CBI Judge Sanjeev Aggarwal noted,

"SEBI despite being capital market watch dog has been too kind and gentle qua the accused persons in the present FIR /RC."

Further, the judge noted that, the investigation was at most nascent stage and therefore it has to follow a path towards a journey which has just began, at the same time the conduct of the investigating agency i.e. "CBI was most lackadaisical to say the least; as no action seemed to have been taken against main beneficiaries of the present co-location scam and others for almost four full years, who seemed to be enjoying merrily at the expense of common citizenry for the reasons best known."

"No doubt SEBI has power to launch serious criminal proceedings under Section 24 of the SEBI Act, however, the scope of the proceedings before the SEBI being a market regulator is totally different from the scope and nature of the present criminal proceedings launched in the present RC / FIR. Though there be some overlapping, it is although a different matter all this while the SEBI has looked away with regard to launching criminal proceedings," noted court on Saturday.

Considering the over all facts and circumstances of the case and in view of the grave and serious allegations against the applicant / accused as above, the judge found that no ground for anticipatory bail was made out at this stage. Therefore, the same stood dismissed.

While reserving the order on Feb 28, the Special CBI Judge had denied any ad-interim relief and had noted,

"However, after hearing both the parties at length as above and after consideration of the entire material, no good ground for ad-interim protection from arrest is made out in favour of the applicant accused at this stage." 

Meanwhile, the court has issued notice over the bail application filed by Anand Subramanian and has sought a response from the Central Bureau of Investigation. The court will hear the said plea on March 11.

"the co-accused Anand Subramanian has already been arrested by the CBI and is on police custody remand, therefore, sustained Chitra Ramkrishna Vs. CBI Page no.19 of 22 RC No. AC1 2018 A0011 dt. 28.05.2018 custodial interrogation of the present applicant would also be required to dig out the truth, as also by confronting her with the said accused," noted the judge.

Background -

Ramakrishna was accused of misusing her office for making inapt appointments, failure to conceal confidential information pertaining to operations of the exchange, and making incorrect and misleading submissions to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). The regulator had stated that her unknown spiritual guru influenced her decision making.

According to the former NSE Chief, the spiritual guru has no physical coordinates and would manifest at will. She met him nearly twenty years ago on the banks of the Ganga where the ‘paramhansa’ gave her the email-ID for future correspondence.

SEBI also noted that Mr. Subramanian’s previous work experience was not relevant to his new consultancy position at NSE. His annual salary at his previous workplace was ₹15 lakh, which rose significantly to ₹1.68 crore at NSE. Moreover, he was expected to work four days a week. With recurrent appraisals and performance ratings, his compensation rose to ₹4.21 crore within two years.