NSE phone tapping-money laundering case: Court reserves order on Chitra Ramkrishna's bail

Rouse Avenue District Court of Delhi on Thursday reserved its order on the bail petition of former National Stock Exchange (NSE) CEO Chitra Ramkrishna, arrested by the Enforcement Directorate under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in connection with alleged illegal phone tapping and snooping of employees of the leading stock exchange of the country.

Special Judge Sunena Sharma said arguements on behalf of the ED as well as on the behalf of the accused were heard at length and it has been listed for orders on August 29, 2022.

The same Court recently refused to grant bail to the former Mumbai Police Commissioner Sanjay Pandey in the same case.

ED, while opposing the bail plea of Chitra, argued that "investigation is confirmed in the matter and she was directly or indirectly indulging in or knowingly assisted in and was actually involved in all processes or activity connected with the proceeds of crime including its concealment, possession, acquisition or use and further in projecting or claiming it as untainted property."

The ED lawyer had earlier also submitted that it is important to further determine Chitra's as well as the role of various other persons who facilitated the offence of money laundering and to determine the entire modus operandi employed for the generation of proceeds of crime and projection thereof as licit payment for 'Periodic Study of Cyber Vulnerabilities' of NSE, it said.

ED lawyer earlier while seeking custodial interrogation submitted that Chitra Ramkrishna is essential to establish the money trail of Proceeds of Crime as well as projection thereof as she may be required to be confronted with the other suspects named in the impugned FIR. She is also required to be confronted with various documents collected during the course of the investigation, the lawyer said.

The ED further submitted that Chitra Ramkrishna is necessary to ascertain her complicity with other key players involved in laundering the proceeds of crime, her relationship and the modus operandi adopted with such other persons.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has recently registered a fresh FIR in the NSE Co-Location Case over the allegations of phone tapping.

Following the orders of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) registered a case in the alleged National Stock Exchange (NSE) co-location scam that involved the phone tapping of NSE employees.

The FIR mentioned the names of former NSE Chief Chitra Ramakrishna, Ravi Narain and former Mumbai Commissioner Sanjay Pandey for allegedly tapping the phones of NSE officials and other irregularities.

Pandey is the 1986-batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer who retired from service on June 30.

During the investigation, it was found that Pandey is closely related to the functioning and activities of a company called iSec Securities Pvt. Ltd. The company had conducted a security audit of NSE around the time the alleged co-location irregularities have taken place. The company was incorporated by Pandey in March 2001 and he quit as its director in May 2006. His son and mother took over the charge of the company.

It has been alleged that illegal phone tapping of NSE employees was done between 2009-17.

( With inputs from ANI )

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