Premature to say Ramkrishna is mastermind: CBI

The statement from the agency came in response to a query raised by the special CBI Court. The CBI told the court that its investigation into the NSE co-location scandal is going on. In a related development, the court expressed surprise over the agency’s move to not seek further custodial interrogation of Ramkrishna.

Last week, the agency had sought 14 days of custodial interrogation of Ramkrishna. The court, however, had granted only seven days. The court on Monday asked the agency why it was not seeking her further custodial interrogation.

In response, the counsel for the agency said that Ramkrishna has stopped cooperating and is giving evasive replies to all the questions by the agency. Meanwhile, Ramkrishna has filed for bail. CBI opposed her bail plea, saying Ramkrishna is very influential and should not be released on bail. The Court on Monday turned down Ramkrishna’s request for home-cooked food. The Judge said that Ramkrishna is no VIP. “There will be no special facility given to anyone. VIP prisoners want everything. Rules cannot be changed for anyone. Every accused, every prisoner is the same,” the Judge said. The court, however, allowed Ramkrishna to carry her spectacles, prayer books and medicines. Ramkrishna has been remanded in 14 days judicial custody (Tihar jail).

Last week, CBI informed the special Court that Ramkrishna and her then adviser Anand Subramanian had together travelled to several tax havens, including the Seychelles and Mauritius, during their tenure at the bourse. Claiming that Ramkrishna was involved in various malpractices, the CBI told the court that it was investigating these trips to see whether they had gained pecuniary advantage.

It also said Subramanian impersonated the so-called Himalayan Yogi and influenced the decisions of Ramkrishna at the NSE.

According to the CBI, Subramanian thought that he would operate as the Himalayan Yogi for four years and no one would find out. There is evidence that establishes that Subramanian had created the email ID [email protected], to which Ramkrishna had sent confidential company information, the CBI had told the court.

It alleged that in a bid to destroy evidence, Subramanian deleted some of the crucial emails. The agency claims to have recovered 832 GB of data. The agency had also informed the court that it had written to Microsoft to retrieve deleted emails and data.

This was submitted by the agency last week while opposing the bail plea of Subramanian, who is currently in Tihar jail. The court had reserved its order on Subramanian’s bail plea.