After I-T, CBI lens on former NSE MD Chitra Ramakrishna

MUMBAI: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) questioned Chitra Ramakrishna, former CEO-MD of National Stock Exchange (NSE) at her house in the city on Friday.
The central probe agency also issued look out circulars against her along with former chief executive officer (CEO) Ravi Narain and chief operating officer Anand Subramanian, preventing them from leaving the country.
On Thursday, Income Tax (I-T) department’s investigation wing searched her house in Mumbai and that of Anand Subramanian in Chennai.

Earlier, Chitra was in controversy for creating a post of chief strategic officer in the NSE and hiring Subramanian on the post by her own at an annual salary of Rs 1.38 crore which subsequently increased to Rs 4 crore, higher than most of the seniors at NSE.
She had also allegedly provided internal information of NSE to an outsider, her spiritual guru, with whom she was said to be traveling to Seychelles.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) had investigated all the allegations and indicated that the spiritual guru and Anand were the same person.
Before joining NSE as consultant to MD, Anand was a middle level employee of Balmer and Lawrie and had no experience in the stock market.

In February, the Sebi had issued final order imposing Rs 3 crore penalty on Chitra and Rs 2 crore on Anand.
During her controversial tenure at the NSE, Chitra allegedly shared confidential information of NSE with the spiritual guru and allowed her decisions on various aspects of the functioning of the stock exchange to be influenced by him.
She told the NSE that the spiritual guru was a ‘siddha-purusha’ or ‘paramhansa’ who did not have a physical persona and could materialise at will.
The former head of NSE also told Sebi that the spiritual guru who may be largely dwelling in the Himalayan ranges had been guiding her for the past 20 years and that as a spiritual force, their spiritual powers do not require them to have any such physical co-ordinates.
While examining her email exchange with the guru where they were discussing many personal details, including self-appearance, the Sebi found that she held Anand in the same light as her spiritual guru.