NEW DELHI: The Special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court of Delhi has sent former managing director and chief executive officer of National Stock Exchange (NSE) Chitra Ramkrishna to seven-day CBI remand in connection with the NSE co-location (Colo) case.

The CBI had sought a 14-day remand submitting that Chitra Ramakrishna has remained evasive and has not been answering questions and even trying to misguide the investigation officer, however, after hearing the submissions of both sides, Special CBI Judge Sanjeev Aggarwal decided to sent Chitra Ramkrishna for CBI remand till March 14.

The counsels from both the side argued before the court with the public prosecutor of CBI submitting that Chitra Ramakrishna was first summoned to the new headquarters of the agency and a face-to-face confrontation took place between her and Anand Subramanian the former Group Operating Officer (GOO) who is a co-accused in the Colo scam, however, she even refused to recognize him. 

The CBI counsel submitted that they have unearthed more than 2,500 emails between the two (Chitra and Anand) and they need to analyze them, and cross-question both the accused.

The central agency had carried out search operations at her residence after expanding its probe into the NSE Colo scam following a SEBI order in which she had referred to a mysterious Yogi from the Himalayas guiding her actions. She had claimed that she communicated with him only by email and had shared very sensitive data with him, disregarding all corporate governance norms. Apparently, Anand was that Yogi with whom she as the CEO of the exchange was sharing very sensitive and confidential information.  

To scientifically ascertain her lack of cooperation the CBI had also involved a senior psychologist from the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) who after questioning her come to the conclusion that she was evasive in responses leaving no option for the agency but to arrest her for custodian interrogation.

During the hearing of the bail application which was rejected, the court had also pulled up market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and CBI, saying the conduct of the agency was, "Most lackadaisical to say the least, as no action seems to have been taken against main beneficiaries of the present co-location scam."