NSE Scam Case: Former Advisor To Chitra Ramkrishna Arrested By CBI

Anand Subramanian, former National Stock Exchange ( NSE) group operating officer who was allegedly appointed on the influence of a yogi living in the Himalayas was arrested by the Crime Bureau of Investigation on Thursday in a case involving stock market manipulation.

As per reports, the arrest was made after the report by market regulator SEBI which highlighted some "fresh facts". Subramanian was questioned for days in Chennai by CBI before his arrest, the officials said.

Anand Subramanian was first appointed as the Chief Strategic Adviser in the NSE in 2013. He was then promoted as the Group Operating Officer in 2015 by the then Managing Director Chitra Ramkrishna. Subramanian left NSE in 2016 after allegations of irregularities were flagged. Chitra Ramkrishna is being investigated for allegedly sharing confidential information with a godman who allegedly influenced her decisions. As per the officials, one of those decisions was Anand Subramanian's appointment. The officials also alleged that there were, "frequent, arbitrary and disproportionate" hikes in Subramanian's salary allegedly without any evidence of a performance evaluation, according to SEBI.

Chitra Ramkrishna and others have been charged by SEBI with alleged governance lapses in the appointment of Subramanian and his outsized promotion. SEBI has fined Ramkrishna ₹ 3 crore, and ₹ 2 crore each is the fine imposed on NSE, Subramanian, former NSE MD and CEO Ravi Narain.

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More on the case: 

The income tax department had conducted searches on the properties of former chief executive of the National Stock Exchange Chitra Ramkrishna on February 17. It was the second probe on her by the department. The raid came based on allegations that Ramkrishna shared internal exchange information with a third person for illegal gains.

This search by the IT officials came after the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) passed an order on February 11, in which the regulator found lapses in the “governance and ethical conduct” of Ramkrishna. In the same order, it was mentioned that the organisation found her allegedly sharing confidential information with a third person named Rigyajursama. They also imposed a fine of rupees three crore on Ramkrishna.