NSE phone tapping: Court to hear pleas of Ramakrishna, Pandey on Dec 7

A Delhi court will hear on Dec 7 the bail applications of former NSE chief Chitra Ramakrishna and ex-Mumbai Police Commissioner Sanjay Pandey in a corruption case related to illegal phone tapping

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A Delhi court will hear on December 7 the bail applications of former NSE chief Chitra Ramakrishna and ex-Mumbai Police Commissioner Sanjay Pandey in a corruption case related to alleged illegal phone tapping and snooping on stock exchange employees.

Special Judge Sunena Sharma adjourned the matter after the counsel appearing for the two accused prayed for adjournment on the ground that their petition challenging the rejection of their bail application in a connected money laundering case, being probed by the ED, is pending before the Delhi High Court which has reserved its orders.

In view of request, let the bail applications of the accused be listed for arguments on December 7, the judge said in an order passed on November 30.

Both the accused are currently in the judicial custody.

The judge also directed the Tihar jail superintendent to produce Pandey before the court physically on the next date of hearing, as the accused himself will argue his bail application.

According to the CBI, former NSE executives Chitra Ramakrishna and Ravi Narain, also a co-accused in the case, hired a private firm to illegally snoop on NSE employees. The CBI and the ED alleged the top National Stock Exchange officials wanted to see if the employees were discussing or leaking exchange-related information.

Accordingly, iSec Services, a company founded by Pandey, obtained a contract worth around Rs 4.45 crore.

The alleged snooping happened between 2009 and 2017, coincidentally during the colocation scam related to manipulation of the stock market. The NSE was later alleged to have disposed of the snooping hardware as e-waste.