NSE phone-tapping case: CBI files chargesheet against NSE ex-CEOs, former top cop Sanjay Pandey

It was found during investigation that Pandey was working as a police officer while allegedly managing the affairs of the company, said the spokesperson. “The NSE ended up paying around Rs 4.54 crore in eight years to the private company for illegally tapping phone calls of NSE employees in the name of cyber vulnerability study. The call records of hundreds of NSE employees were allegedly kept in the custody of the private company and the interception was done without the knowledge or consent of NSE board or its employees. During investigation, the CBI had arrested Pandey, Narain and Ramakrishna,” the spokesperson said.

The CBI had booked the retired IPS officer and others in the phone-tapping case on July 7. Four days later, the Enforcement Directorate registered a case against Pandey and arrested him on July 19; the CBI arrested him on September 24. “The illegal phone-tapping of NSE employees was unearthed during the investigation of another case related to the co-location scam in NSE. It was alleged that unauthorised recording and monitoring of phone calls in NSE started in 1997 when Narain and Ramakrishna connected call lines of employees to a digital voice recorder provided by a private company,” the spokesperson said.

Officials said iSec Services Pvt Ltd, a company founded by Pandey, conducted the security audit at NSE during the period when the co-location scam was allegedly committed.

“During 1997-2009, Ramakrishna with the help of some NSE employees allegedly supervised the interception. In 2009, the work of monitoring the calls was given to the accused private company being run by Pandey. To maintain secrecy, the work order was allegedly issued to the private company in the name of conducting periodic study of cyber vulnerabilities,” the spokesperson said.