Sebi clean chit to NSE, ex-MDs Ramkrishna, Narain and 5 others in co-location case

MUMBAI: Markets regulator Sebi on Friday dismissed charges of violations of regulatory rules against NSE and seven former employees, including ex-MDs Chitra Ramkrishna and Ravi Narain, in the nearly decade-old case of unauthorised selective access to the bourse's server to some brokers, known as the co-location scam.

The charges were dismissed due to absence of sufficient evidence, Sebi's 83-page order in the case said. Sebi's order will, however, not have any impact on the ongoing probes by CBI and ED. Ramakrishna and Anand Subramanian, the suspected mysterious Baba "guiding" the former NSE boss, also let off in the case, were arrested by the two agencies.

"Due to the absence of sufficient material/evidence/objective facts on record in this case, the test of 'preponderance of probability' fails to produce enough justification for the establishment of collusion/connivance between OPG (Securities, a broker) and its directors with (NSE and its seven employees)," the Sebi order said.

In a separate order, Sebi held that OPG had made illegal gains due to preferential access to NSE's servers and directed the firm and its directors - Sanjay Gupta, Sangeeta Gupta and Om Prakash Gupta - to jointly disgorge over Rs 85 crore, along with annual interest of 12% from May 22, 2015. The regulator also banned Sanjay Gupta from the market for six months, in addition to the five-year ban imposed on him in 2019.

Sebi's decision on NSE could ease its ongoing process to get regulatory nod for the IPO, sources said. On Aug 27, NSE sought permission to file a draft prospectus to go public. NSE's co-location scam and Sebi probe was a key reason for the regulator to ask the bourse not to proceed with its listing plan.