NSE co-location scam: Anand Subramanian denied bail by Delhi court; Order copy accessed

A Delhi court on Thursday, March 24, rejected the bail application of Anand Subramanian, former group operating officer (GOO) of the National Stock Exchange, in the co-location scam case. The order was passed by Special Judge Sanjeev Aggarwal after hearing counsels for the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Subramanian, who is currently in judicial custody.

The ex-NSE top official was arrested by the CBI on February 24 and was remanded to custodial interrogation. He was then sent to 14-day judicial custody on March 9.

According to the court order accessed by Republic, the CBI counsel alleged Subramanian impersonated as Himalayan Yogi, to whom confidential information regarding the structure and working of NSE was shared on the email by the co-accused NSE's former MD and CEO Chitra Ramakrishna. The Central agency also argued that he is a flight risk and should not be granted bail.

"Further the investigations are going on and the investigating agency is in the process of removing the secret veil to show to the court the true face of this Himalyan Yogi, who is as elusive as anecdotal Himalyan Yeti," it said.

The former GOO's advocate had sought his release on bail on the ground that he was not named in the First Information Report (FIR) and had no role in the NSE co-location facility. He also specifically denied the allegation that Subramanian was the "Himalayan Yogi".

On March 9, the court had pulled up CBI for the tardy probe in the case, stating that the magnitude of the case will be big and the reputation of the nation was at state.

An FIR in the NSE co-location scam was registered in 2018 under IPC Sections 204 and 120B as well as under the provisions of the Information Technology Act and Prevention of Corruption Act.

In the co-location facility offered by the National Stock Exchange, brokers could place their servers within the premise of the stock exchange giving them faster access to the markets. It is alleged by CBI that some brokers in collusion with insiders abused the algorithm and the co-location facility to make huge profits.

The investigating agency had alleged that Ramakrishna, who was also arrested by CBI, with Subramanian, abused her position as the Managing Director of NSE and got him appointed as her Chief Strategic Advisor by making this post to accommodate and appoint him circumventing the prescribed due procedures at NSE.