Sebi to Chitra Ramkrishna: Pay Rs 3.1 crore or face arrest, asset attachment

In an order dated February 11, Sebi had slapped a penalty of Rs 3 crore on Ramkrishna for alleged governance lapses in a case related to the appointment of Anand Subramanian as the Group Operating Officer and Advisor when she was at the helm of NSE as its MD and CEO, as well as for sharing confidential information of the company with an unidentified person.

Apart from penalising Ramkrishna, Sebi had imposed a penalty on Ravi Narain, who was the predecessor of Ramkrishna, and Subramanian and others. In its fresh notice, Sebi directed Ramkrishna to pay Rs 3.12 crore, which includes interest and recovery cost, within 15 days.

In the event of non-payment of dues, the market regulator will recover the amount by attaching and selling her moveable and immoveable property. Besides, Ramkrishna faces attachment of her bank accounts and arrest.

Ramkrishna is currently lodged in Delhi’s Tihar Jail after she was arrested by the CBI on March 6 in the NSE co-location scam case and investigation linked to other governance lapses at the bourse. Last month, the regulator issued similar demand notices to Narain and Subramanian.

In April, the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) admitted Ramkrishna’s plea against the Sebi order in relation to governance lapses at the bourse and directed her to deposit an amount of Rs 2 crore.

The appellate tribunal had also directed NSE to deposit more than Rs 4 crore towards leave encashment and the deferred bonus of Ramkrishna in an escrow account as against Sebi’s direction where the amount was to be parked in the Investor Protection Fund Trust.