NSE phone tapping: Delhi HC reserves order on bail plea by Chitra Ramkrishna in ED case

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The Delhi High Court on Tuesday reserved its verdict on the bail plea by Chitra Ramkrishna in the money laundering case related to alleged illegal phone tapping and snooping on National Stock Exchange (NSE) employees.

The former NSE managing director objected to the Enforcement Directorate's claim that she was the "mastermind" behind the conspiracy and highlighted that she has spent four months in custody.

"Arguments heard. Judgement reserved," said Justice Jasmeet Singh after hearing rejoinder submissions by the senior counsel for Ramkrishna.

Senior advocate Rebecca John, appearing for Ramkrishna, argued that the ED's claim that she was the mastermind "can be discredited and disproved" on the basis of the material on record.

"To say that I processed (the tapping) and I was the mastermind is being economical with the truth and contrary to the documents that they (ED) have themselves filed on record," she argued.

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The senior lawyer said that the court would consider the facts and circumstances of the case to grant bail in light of a provision of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act which permits the grant of bail to certain classes of accused, including women.

"I have been in custody in this case since July 14. Four months in this case and a complaint has been filed," John said.

She had earlier argued that no scheduled offence was made out against Ramkrishna and the allegations also did not fall within the rigours of the PMLA.

The phone tapping case, according to the ED, pertains to a period from 2009 to 2017 when former NSE CEO Ravi Narain, Ramkrishna, Executive Vice-President Ravi Varanasi, and Head (Premises) Mahesh Haldipur and others conspired to cheat NSE and its employees.

For this purpose, they allegedly engaged iSEC Services Pvt Ltd for illegal interception of phone calls of employees of NSE in the guise of doing a periodic study of the cyber vulnerabilities of NSE.

Earlier, theED had argued that Ramkrishna was the "mastermind" behind the criminal conspiracy in the matter and opposed her bail plea.

The agency had claimed that the "proposal for call interception and monitoring, which was in the guise of study of cyber vulnerability", was processed through Ramkrishna who was the deputy MD at the relevant time, and that she identified the telephone numbers and the employees for monitoring.

Chitra Ramkrishna, who was earlier arrested by the CBI in the alleged NSE co-location scam, was arrested by ED on July 14. The court was earlier told that the payment of over Rs 4 crore made by NSE to iSEC for the "illegal actions" from January 2009 till February 2017 are proceeds of crime and the acts of the accused were in violation of the law including the Telegraph Act.

Ramkrishna was appointed as Joint MD NSE in 2009 and remained in the position till March 31, 2013. She got elevated to MD and CEO on April 1, 2013. Her tenure at NSE ended in December 2016.

Earlier this year, the trial court had refused to grant bail to Ramkrishna in the matter.

It had said that the accused not only infringed the privacy and confidentiality of NSE employees but also committed a criminal breach of trust in respect of NSE's fund and property over which she had dominion.

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