Court cites Bob Dylan, Frankenstein, while denying bail to former NSE head Chitra Ramkrishna

New Delhi, May 16

A Delhi court cited Nobel Laureate Bob Dylan as well as Frankenstein monster while denying bail to former managing director and chief executive officer of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) Chitra Ramkrishna and group operating officer (GOO) Anand Subramanian in the NSE co-location case.

In the order, the court also said that the financial world, including the FIIs (Foreign Institutional Investors), are waiting with bated breath for NSE to redeem itself, “so that they can fly to this country for investment in droves, which is at present, a brilliant destination for investment”.

Special Judge Sanjeev Aggarwal made the reference in an order passed and reported on May 12, a detailed 42-page copy of which was uploaded on the court's website on Monday.

 “It appears that accused A-1 (Ramakrishna) prima facie seems to have been running the affairs of NSE akin to that of a private club; singer writer, Nobel Laureate Bob Dylan once said 'money doesn't talk, it swears', which is a song of 1964 song album 'It's Alright Ma I'm Only Bleeding', means that money not only has influence, but it has great influence, even a perverse influence on people,” the judge observed.

The court said that the present scam may also impact the investment scenario in the country, viz a viz FIIs, which, it said, are always looking for a fair, transparent, and clean stock exchange to trade with.

The present case has shaken the financial consciousness of every investor, whether retail, institutional, or otherwise, which needs mending to restore the confidence of the public at large in the same, the order said.

 “With regard to affairs of NSE at the relevant time, it would not be out of place to observe herein that there comes a time in a lifetime of an institution, where it finds itself at crossroads, then it should take a path which is a right path to restore its glory, rather than burying the skeletons, which may later turn into Frankenstein monsters,” the judge said.

Therefore, considering the gravity as well as the seriousness, enormity, and magnitude of the allegations against both the accused persons, as discussed above, no ground for their bail is made out at this stage, the judge said.

The court had reserved the order after hearing arguments from the accused's advocate Arshdeep Singh as well as the prosecution.

The accused were arrested in the case related to the co-location scam, the FIR for which was registered in May 2018, amid fresh revelations about irregularities at the country's largest stock exchange.

The CBI is probing the alleged improper dissemination of information from the computer servers of the market exchanges to the stockbrokers.

Earlier, The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) penalized the National Stock Exchange (NSE) and its former CEOs Chitra Ramakrishna and Ravi Narayan and two other officials for lapses in recruitment at the senior level.

Ravi Narain was the MD and CEO of the National Stock Exchange from April 1994 till March 2013, while Chitra Ramkrishna was the MD and CEO of the NSE from April 2013 to December 2016.

The CBI has also alleged that the NSE and its top executives violated securities contract norms relating to the appointment of Anand Subramaniam as group operating officer and advisor to the managing director.  

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