NSE co-location case: CBI arrests ex-NSE COO Anand Subramanian

Earlier, the investigating agency had questioned Anand Subramaniam for three days in connection with the co-location case.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday arrested former National Stock Exchange’s (NSE) group operating officer (GOO) Anand Subramanian in Chennai in connection with new facts in the 2018 case related to misuse of NSE’s server architecture and co-location facility.

Anand Subramanian was grilled for three days in Chennai about his role at the exchange, how he landed as the group operating officer at the NSE, besides his association with then MD and CEO Chitra Ramkrishna.

This development comes as authorities pressed ahead with an investigation into whether high-frequency traders were given unfair access to network servers at the exchange.

Subramanian held the post of the chief strategic advisor from April 1, 2013 before he was re-designated from April 1, 2015 until October 21, 2016.

The CBI has also started interrogating former MD-CEO Chitra Ramkrishna and former CEO Ravi Narain. While Ramkrishna was questioned last Friday, Narain’s questioning took place last Saturday.

The federal agency last week had expanded its ambit of probe in the NSE co-location case registered by it in 2018. The agency had also issued a look out circular (LoC) against Chitra Ramkrishna, Anand Subramanian, the then group operating officer and adviser to the managing director and former CEO Ravi Narain. An LoC prohibits travel outside the country.

It should be noted here that Chitra is not named as an accused in the FIR registered by the CBI in May 2018. However, one of the co-accused booked in the FIR are “unknown officers/officials of Sebi and NSE, Mumbai”.

Earlier, the CBI had recently visited the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) office and collected documents.

According to a report on The Indian Express, the interrogations, according to CBI, were being made in light of a Sebi report that said Ramkrishna had been sharing confidential NSE information with a “Himalayan Yogi” and indicted her for Subramanian’s appointment in contravention of rules.