NSE phone tapping: Delhi court denies bail to Chitra Ramkrishna in money laundering case

During the hearing, the ED objected to the bail request, claiming that the investigation was still ongoing and that she was “directly or indirectly” involved in the crime.

Chitra Ramkrishna, the former managing director and chief executive officer of the National Stock Exchange (NSE), was denied bail on Monday in a money laundering case involving alleged illegal phone tapping and snooping of NSE employees. Sunena Sharma, a Special Judge, denied the relief, stating that the stage was not set to allow the bail.

During the hearing, the ED objected to the bail plea, claiming that the investigation was still ongoing and that she was “directly or indirectly” involved in the crime. The ED’s Special Public Prosecutor N K Matta told the court that from 2009 to 2017, former NSE CEO Ravi Narain, Ramkrishna, Executive Vice President Ravi Varanasi, and Head (Premises) Mahesh Haldipur and others conspired to defraud NSE and its employees and that for that purpose, iSEC Services Pvt Ltd was engaged for illegal interception of phone calls of NSE employees under the graphical interface.

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Furthermore, no consent from NSE employees was obtained in this matter, according to ED. “Transcripts of these calls were provided by iSEC and received by NSE officials at the top level in violation of NSE employees’ confidentiality and privacy, resulting in a wrongful gain of Rs 4.54 crore to iSEC as payment for this task and corresponding wrongful loss to NSE,” the agency said.