New Delhi, March 24 : A District Court on Thursday dismissed the bail application of former Group Operating officer (GOO) of National Stock Exchange’s Anand Subramanian, arrested in the NSE co-location scam case. In this matter, an FIR was registered in 2018 for the alleged commission of offences under Sections 204 (destruction of document or electronic evidence) and 120B (conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code as well as violation of provisions of the Information Technology Act and the Prevention of Corruption Act. It was alleged that Ramkrishna, in connivance with Subramanian, abused her official position as MD of NSE and got him appointed as her Chief Strategic Advisor/Consultant by creating this post of Chief Strategic Advisor to accommodate and appoint him, bypassing the prescribed due procedures at NSE. In the co-location facility offered by NSE, brokers could place their servers within the stock exchange premises, giving them faster access to the markets. The Investigating Agency has alleged that some brokers, in connivance with insiders, abused the algorithm and the co-location facility to make windfall profits. The Counsel for Subramanian, after moving the bail application, submitted before the Court that he was falsely implicated in the case and even his name was not in the FIR and he had no role in the NSE co-location facility, while specifically denying the allegation that he was the ‘Himalayan Yogi,’ who allegedly influenced Ramkrishna’s decision making. The Counsel further submitted before the Court that the applicant may be granted bail by imposing any terms and conditions. CBI opposed the bail application by submitted that Subramanian, who impersonated as the Himalayan Yogi to influence NSE’s former MD and CEO Chitra Ramkrishna and remained evasive during interrogation, was a flight risk, so should not be granted bail at this stage. Special CBI Judge Sanjeev Aggarwal, after hearing argument on behalf of the Prosecution and Defence Counsel, dismissed the bail application of Subramanian. XC RJ
