NSE co-location case: CBI court sends Anand Subramanian to 14-day judicial custody

A special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court on Wednesday sent Anand Subramanian, former Group Operating Officer (GOO) and advisor to former MD of National Stock Exchange (NSE) Chitra Ramkrishna, to 14-day judicial custody after 12 days of police custody.

CBI also told the court that a special investigation team (SIT) of almost 30 officers including senior officials is investigating the co-location scam in the Indian stock exchange.

The investigating agency has also informed court that probe is ongoin and that SEBI officers have also been questioned.

Special CBI Judge Sanjeev Aggarwal also asked what is the quantum of the scam, that is, how much would it be worth. To that, CBI said that Indian School of Business (ISB) is studying the issue and the report is awaited. 

The Judge also observed that scams like this can affect the reputation of the country.

Earlier, a CBI court had extended the custody Subramanian till March 9.

Anand was a close associate of ex-NSE boss Ramkrishna, who was arrested by CBI on Sunday after a special CBI court rejected her anticipatory bail. She was arrested in Delhi and taken for medical checkup, according to officials, and was later lodged in lockup at the CBI headquarters. The ex-NSE boss is likely to be produced in front of the court post lunch.

Subramanian was the Chief Strategic Advisor of NSE from April 1, 2013 and was subsequently re-designated as the Group Operating Officer (GOO) and advisor to Ramkrishna during her tenure as the MD and CEO from April 1, 2015 to October 21, 2016.

As per complaints received by the Securities & Exchanges Board of India (SEBI), Subramanian was hired at such a senior position without any prior experience in the finance sector. He was also paid much more than most seniors at NSE.

He was at times given two appraisals in a financial year. Not only that, his wife, Sunitha Anand, who worked at the Chennai office of NSE and was a ‘good friend’ of Ramkrishna, was also drawing a hefty salary that points towards favouritism.

(With inputs from Aneesha Mathur)