Phone tapping case: Former NSE CEO Ravi Narain arrested by Enforcement Directorate

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday arrested former National Stock Exchange (NSE) CEO Ravi Narain in an illegal 'phone tapping' case related to the exchange's co-location scam.
Earlier, the ED had arrested former Mumbai police commissioner Sanjay Pandey and Chitra Ramkrishna in the same case.

ED’s case is based on the predicate case registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation ( CBI) which had booked Pandey, iSsc Services, a firm linked to his family members and former NSE chiefs, Chitra Ramkrishna and Ravi Narain.

According to the CBI, NSE hired iSec Services Pvt., a firm floated by former Mumbai police commissioner Sanjay Pandey, for conducting “periodic study of cyber vulnerabilities” at the bourse under a Rs 4.45 crore contract. However, the purpose was to snoop on employees. Another contract of around Rs 8 crores was awarded to carry out system audits of the brokages including two who had availed the NSE co-location facility and have been accused of preferential access, thereby causing windfall lost to NSE.

Four PRI lines, each with a capacity of 30 telephone connections by MTNL NSE 0.61 % that originated from the telecom operator and terminated at the NSE office, were illegally intercepted without permission from a competent authority and without the consent of the employees between March 2009 and February 2017, they said.

The snooping had come to light during investigations into alleged irregularities related to the co-location facility at the bourse. While Sebi had carried out a probe into the co-location matter, EY had been hired by the NSE to carry out an audit of the exchange in the aftermath of the scam.

Narain was the MD and CEO of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) from April 1994 till March 2013. He was appointed as vice-chairman in the non-executive category on the NSE's board from April 2013 and remained so till June 2017. Ramkrishna was MD and CEO of NSE from April 2013 to December 2016.