The Delhi High Court on Wednesday dismissed central bureau of investigation’s (CBI) challenge to the bail granted to National Stock Exchange's (NSE) former managing director and chief executive officer (MD&CEO) Chitra Ramkrishna in the alleged illegal phone-tapping case involving employees of the Exchange.
Justice Madhu Jain rejected CBI’s petition against the trial court order of 22 December 2022, which had granted bail to Ms Ramkrishna. A detailed copy of the High Court’s order is awaited.
The case concerns allegations of illegal interception of phone calls of NSE employees between 2009 and 2017.
According to CBI’s case, senior officials of NSE, including Ms Ramkrishna, allegedly entered into a conspiracy with iSec Services Pvt Ltd to cheat the exchange and its employees. The agency has alleged that iSec Services was engaged to intercept employees’ phone calls under the cover of carrying out a periodic study of cyber vulnerabilities at NSE. The allegations have not been adjudicated at trial.
She was also barred from communicating with or approaching prosecution witnesses and from tampering with evidence.
The trial court further ordered that she could not leave the country without the court's prior permission.
CBI subsequently approached the High Court, challenging the grant of bail.
CBI's first information report (FIR) names allegations involving Ms Ramkrishna and other senior NSE officials, including former CEO Ravi Narain, executive vice-president Ravi Varanasi and head of premises Mahesh Haldipur.
The agency has alleged that iSec Services was brought in to intercept the phone calls of NSE employees while the exercise was presented as a periodic assessment of cyber vulnerabilities at the stock exchange.
The FIR invokes provisions of the Indian Penal Code relating to criminal conspiracy, criminal breach of trust and cheating, besides provisions of the Information Technology Act, Indian Telegraph Act, Indian Wireless Telegraphy Act and the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The alleged phone interception relates to a period during which Ms Ramkrishna held senior positions at the Exchange.
Following the registration of the CBI case, the directorate of enforcement (ED) initiated proceedings under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act in connection with the alleged scheduled offences.
ED had alleged that ₹4.54 crore received by iSec Services for providing the services constituted proceeds of crime. Ms Ramkrishna was granted bail by the High Court in that money-laundering case in February 2023.
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