NSE co-location case: Court mentions 'Himalayan Yogi' in its order, says agency in process of removing secret veil

New Delhi: While dismissing the bail petition of Anand Subramanian in connection with the NSE co-location case, the Special CBI court of Delhi on Thursday remarked on the mysterious "Himalayan Yogi" and said that the investigating agency is in the process of "removing the secret veil" to reveal "true face" of the Yogi who is "as elusive as the anecdotal Himalayan Yeti".

Earlier, the CBI claimed that former NSE CEO Chitra Ramkrishna had been guided by a "Himalayan Yogi" while taking important decisions during her tenure and also shared the bourse`s internal matters with a mysterious person -- the Himalayan Yogi.

The court noted that the prosecution alleged that the present accused (Anand Subramanian) is the Himalayan Yogi, to whom confidential information regarding the structure and working of NSE was shared on the email rigyajursama@outlook.com by the co-accused Chitra Ramakrishna, who is alleged to have been working in tandem in this alleged insidious conspiracy called co-location scam.

The special CBI Judge Sanjeev Aggarwal while dismissing the bail plea of Anand Subramanian said that the prosecution at this stage of investigation is stated to be working on disjoint scattered dots, from which it has to conjure a final picture in the shape of a charge sheet. The investigations which are at the initial stage will crystalize into concrete form only after filing the charge sheet.

"Therefore, considering the grave and serious allegations against the present accused, as discussed above, no ground for his bail is made out at this stage. The application stands dismissed," said the court.Subramanian, former Group Operating Officer and ex-advisor to former MD of National Stock Exchange (NSE) was the first person arrested by the CBI in the case last month.

Earlier, Advocate Arshdeep Singh Khurana, who appeared for Subramanian, argued that as far as the allegations contained in the FIR are concerned, the applicant has been wrongly implicated in the case, since he is not connected in any manner with the allegations so levelled. No offence is made out even from a reading of the FIR.

"In fact, the FIR pertains to the applicant`s alleged role in the unfair access to Co-location facilities to one Sanjay Gupta and his company OPG Security Pvt Ltd. It has been stated that Sanjay Gupta with help from unknown persons, managed the data centre staff of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) who passed on information regarding switching on time of NSE exchange servers, which gave him an unfair advantage," submitted Singh.

Advocates Vishnu Mohan and Aakashi Lodha also appeared for Arvind Subramanian in the case.The CBI counsel while opposing the bail plea submitted that 832 GB of data was recovered."We recovered it from the archive. We have written to Microsoft to give us the complete data. He was not cooperating with us. He even deleted material and certain emails. Anand is very influential and there is every possibility that he might flee," said the CBI lawyer.

CBI further submitted that this person was known to Chitra Ramkrishna prior to joining the NSE."There are several emails of this person influencing Chitra. The emails that have been extracted suggests that sensitive information has been leaked," it said.Earlier, the CBI submitted that they are seriously looking at all the aspects of the investigation and a special team of 30 officials consisting of senior officials has been formed to probe the case."We are also probing the role of SEBI officials in the matter. We have also recently questioned Ravi Narain, former MD of NSE," the CBI said.

The court recently sent former managing director and chief executive officer of National Stock Exchange (NSE) Chitra Ramkrishna in connection with the NSE co-location case in Judicial remand.According to the CBI investigation, group operating officer Anand Subramanian`s appointment was influenced by NSE chairman and MD Chitra Ramakrishnan.

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 market regulator observed 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.