Delhi court grants bail to former NSE chief Chitra Ramkrishna in phone tapping case

New Delhi, Dec 22 (PTI) A Delhi court has granted bail to former managing director and chief executive officer of the National Stock Exchange Chitra Ramkrishna in a case related to alleged illegal phone tapping of NSE employees.

Special Judge Sunena Sharma granted the relief to the accused on a personal bond of Rs 1 lakh with two sureties in the like amount, and directed her to appear before the court as and when the matter is taken up for hearing and join the investigation whenever called by the investigating officer.

In the light of the observation made by the Delhi High Court regarding lack of essential ingredient of the predicate offences, this court is inclined to grant bail to the accused/ applicant in the instant case, the judge said in an order passed on Wednesday.

“Mere fact that CBI was not a party to bail application of the co-accused moved before the high court in said ED matter, cannot be a ground to urge before this court to take a different view with regard to alleged predicate offences,” the judge said.

The judge said that since co-accused Sanjay Pandey, former police commissioner of Mumbai, in the connected ED matter, “which in the light of Section 45 PMLA embodies far more stringent conditions for grant of bail, I find no reason to decline bail to the applicant in the present case”.

The court further directed the accused not to communicate with, or come into contact with any of the prosecution witnesses or tamper with the evidence of the case.

It further directed that she will not leave the country without court’s prior permission.

The accused, however, will stay in jail since the high court has reserved order on her bail application in the money laundering case related to the scam.

According to the FIR, top officials of NSE including the applicant conspired with iSec Private Limited to cheat the NSE and its employees and in furtherance of this criminal conspiracy, the company was hired for illegal interception of the phone calls of NSE employees.