HC seeks ED's stand on bail plea by former NSE MD

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court Wednesday sought the stand of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on the bail plea by Chitra Ramkrishna in connection with a money laundering case related to alleged illegal phone tapping and snooping of national stock exchange (NSE) employees.

Justice Jasmeet Singh issued notice on the bail plea by Ramkrishna, former Managing Director of NSE, and granted time to the investigating agency to file its response. Ramkrishna, represented by senior advocate Rebecca John, said that no scheduled offence was made out against her and the allegations also do not fall within the rigours of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. She was arrested by the CBI on March 6 in a case registered in May 2018 related to an alleged co-location scam at NSE. ED later arrested her on July 14 in the phone tapping case. Earlier in the day, she was granted bail by the high court in the CBI case.

According to the ED, from 2009 to 2017, former NSE CEO Ravi Narain, Ramkrishna, Executive Vice-President Ravi Varanasi, and Head (Premises) Mahesh Haldipur and others conspired to cheat NSE and its employees for the purpose engaged iSEC Services Pvt Ltd for illegal interception of phone calls of employees of NSE in the guise of doing a periodic study of cyber vulnerabilities of NSE. Ramkrishna was appointed as a Joint MD in 2009 and remained in the position till March 31, 2013.

She got elevated as MD and CEO on April 1, 2013. Last month, the trial court refused to grant bail to Ramkrishna. While rejecting her bail plea, the trial court had said that bail cannot be given at this stage. The trial court had said that the accused not only infringed the privacy and confidentiality of NSE employees but also committed a criminal breach of trust in respect of NSE's fund and property over which she had dominion. The matter would be heard next on October 28.