After ED, CBI trouble for ex-Mumbai CP Sanjay Pandey

Sanjay Pandey at ED office, in New Delhi on Tuesday. Pic/ANI

Days after his retirement as the commissioner of the Mumbai police, Sanjay Pandey is facing the heat of central agencies. Pandey was first summoned by the ED in connection with a money laundering case linked to the NSE co-location scam. Now, he has been booked by the CBI for allegedly tapping the phones of NSE employees between 2009 and 2017.

Sources said a company founded by Pandey intercepted calls of NSE employees and gave the transcripts to the NSE co-location scam accused, including the bourse's former CEO Chitra Ramakrishna. The Central Bureau of Investigation said in a release on Friday that it registered a case against Pandey and Ramakrishna on the orders of the Union home minister. It has also booked a few people associated with iSEC Services Pvt. Ltd. The agency raided 18 different locations, including Sanjay Pandey's homes in Mumbai and Chandigarh. Raids were conducted in Mumbai, Pune, Delhi NCR, Lucknow, Kota and Chandigarh.

Sanjay Pandey (left) hands over charge to Vivek Phansalkar as the city's police chief, on June 30. Pic/Pradeep Dhivar (right) Chitra Ramakrishna, former CEO of NSE and also an accused in this case

iSEC was incorporated by Pandey in March 2001 but he quit as its director in 2006 and his mother and son took the charge of the company. Sources said Pandey's company that was supposed to keep an eye on security breaches of NSE servers was actually tapping the phones of NSE employees and sharing the transcripts with Ramakrishna and another co-location accused and former COO of NSE Anand Subramanyam. Sources said the alleged tapping facility was set up in the basement of NSE. "It was alleged that during 2009 to 2017 then MD, then DMD, then Executive Vice President and then Head [Premises] of NSE and said private company conspired to illegally intercept the telephones of NSE employees," said the CBI statement.

"In furtherance to this conspiracy, the said private company was allegedly engaged in the guise of conducting ‘Periodic Study of Cyber Vulnerabilities' at NSE. It was further alleged that top officials of NSE issued Agreement / Work Orders in favour of said private company and illegally intercepted the phone calls of its employees by installing machine/s, in contravention of provisions under Indian Telegraph Act. No permission for this activity was taken from the Competent Authority as provided U/s 5 of the Indian Telegraph Act. No consent of the employees of NSE was also taken in this matter. It was also alleged that the transcripts of these calls were provided by said private company and received by the senior officials of NSE. An amount of R4.45 crore [approx.] was allegedly paid to said private company for this activity." CBI's statement reads further

In the NSE co-location scam registered in 2018, the CBI has so far arrested Ramakrishna, Subramanyam and Sanjay Gupta, the promoter of a Delhi-based company. The CBI is also probing the role of iSEC as it didn't raise a red flag about the alleged breach in security. The Enforcement Directorate recorded Pandey's statement a day after he retired as Mumbai police commissioner on June 30. Pandey was made the city's police chief by the Maha Vikas Aghadi government just three months before his retirement. During his tenure, multiple FIRs were registered against BJP leaders, including Kirit Somaiya and Mohit Kamboj. At that time, the Mumbai cybercops also recorded the statement of Devendra Fadnavis in a phone-tapping case linked to IPS officer Rashmi Shukla.

Rs 4.45 Cr
Approx amount iSEC got to tap phones, as per CBI