Former NSE chief Chitra Ramkrishna's custody extended till April 11

Delhi court allows CBI to collect handwriting specimen of ex-MD in co-location case

A special court in Delhi on Monday allowed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)to collect a handwriting specimen of Chitra Ramkrishna, former managing director and chief executive officer of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) in connection with the NSE co-location case. The CBI Judge Sanjeev Aggarwal on Monday allowed CBI to collect handwriting specimen during judicial custody for investigation purposes.

Meanwhile, the court also extended the judicial custody of Chitra Ramkrishna till April 11, 2022. She was produced before the court at the end of her judicial custody. CBI prosecutor on Monday submitted that the investigation is presently at a very crucial stage and we are examining several digital pieces of evidence in the case.

Last week the same court had sought a response from the investigation agency within two weeks in the bail petition of Chitra Ramakrishna. In the National Stock Exchange Co-location case, the CBI stated that the investigation has alleged that in pursuance of criminal conspiracy, the accused Chitra Ramakrishna, by misusing her official position, re-designated the post of accused Anand Subramanian as Group Operating Officer and Advisor to MD from April 1, 2015, without bringing the same to the notice of NRC and the board.

The CBI is probing the alleged improper dissemination of information from the computer servers of the market exchanges to the stockbrokers. Earlier The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has penalized the National Stock Exchange (NSE) and its former CEOs Chitra Ramakrishna and Ravi Narayan and two other officials for lapses in recruitment at the senior level.

Ravi Narain was the MD and CEO of the National Stock Exchange from April 1994 till March 2013, while Chitra Ramkrishna was the MD and CEO of the NSE from April 2013 to December 2016. The market regulators observed that the NSE and its top executives violated securities contract norms relating to the appointment of Anand Subramaniam as group operating officer and advisor to the managing director.