I-T dept raids Mumbai residence of former MD of NSE Chitra Ramkrishna

The Income Tax department has conducted raids at the Mumbai residence of former chief of National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) Chitra Ramkrishna after the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) recently found serious lapses in her governance and ethical conduct.

While sources in the I-T department confirmed reports of the searches, they refused to divulge further details as the raid is on.

The SEBI in a recent order found that Ramkrishna shared confidential information relating to the exchange with an unknown person, drawing a fine of ₹3 crore. Ramkrishna claimed that she was following the advice of a “Himalayan yogi”.

During an internal investigation, she maintained that she was taking guidance from a ‘siddha-purusha’ or ‘paramhansa’, her spiritual guide for over 20 years, addressed as ‘rigyajursama’ in her emails.

“The sharing of financial and business plans of the NSE is a glaring, if not unimaginable, act that could shake the very foundations of the stock exchange,” the regulator’s order stated.

The other serious lapse was the appointment of Anand Subramanian as chief operating officer (COO) without a clearance from the nomination and remuneration committee (NRC), another breach of regulatory norms.

According to the SEBI order, this was a “glaring conspiracy of a money-making scheme” involving Ramkrishna and Subramanian, along with the unknown ‘Guru’.

NSE had sent detailed reports to SEBI in May and July 2018, stating that the ‘yogi’ was Subramanian himself, a claim corroborated by the forensic auditor. However SEBI was not convinced.

The stock exchange regulator also imposed a penalty of ₹2 crore on the NSE and barred it from launching any new products for the next six months as SEBI board failed to take action against Ramkrishna.