NSE illegal phone tapping case: ED arrests Chitra Ramakrishna

Enforcement Directorate logo. File Pic

The Enforcement Directorate has filed a money laundering complaint against ex-Mumbai Police Commissioner Sanjay Pandey and former NSE top bosses Chitra Ramkrishna and Ravi Narain in connection with the alleged case of illegal phone tapping and snooping case of employees of the stock exchange, officials said on Thursday. The central agency arrested ex-NSE MD Chitra Ramakrishna in the case after getting nod for probe by court, according to the PTI.

Chitra Ramakrishna was produced before a Delhi court that sent her to four-day police custody, PTI reported.

The federal probe agency filed the case under criminal sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), a week after the CBI booked them.

The CBI had alleged that Narain and Ramkrishna had roped in a company founded by the now retired Mumbai police commissioner Pandey to snoop on the stock market employees by illegally intercepting their phones calls.

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The CBI, and now the Enforcement Directorate (ED), have named Pandey, his Delhi-based company, NSE's former MD and CEOs Narain and Ramkrishna, executive vice president Ravi Varanasi and head (premises) Mahesh Haldipur, among others, in their respective complaints.

The alleged irregularities of secret surveillance were found by the ED following which it reported it to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) which asked the CBI to probe the charges, officials said.

(with PTI inputs)