A Himalayan ascetic allegedly guided former National Stock Exchange Chief Executive Officer Chitra Ramakrishna in the appointment of group operating officer Anand Subramaniam, said Securities and Exchange Board of India, or SEBI, in an order, PTI reported on Saturday.
Ramkrishna was the chief executive officer and managing director of the exchange group from April 2013 to December 2016.
SEBI’s order pertains to alleged violations of securities contract rules related to Subramaniam’s appointment, The Indian Express reported. It imposed a fine of Rs 3 crore on Ramkrishna and Rs 2 crore on Subramaniam.
SEBI said that Ramakrishna shared confidential information about the National Stock Exchange, including its business plan and financial results, with the ascetic, and that she also discussed performance appraisals of employees with him.
Ramkrishna also gave “frequent, arbitrary and disproportionate” salary hikes to Subramaniam, and there was no proof that she conducted a performance appraisal for this, SEBI said. It also stated that there was no evidence to support the A+ rating given to him.
Subramaniam joined the National Stock Exchange in April 2013 with annual compensation of Rs 1.68 crore, according to PTI. By April 2016, his compensation had increased to Rs 4.21 crore.
“The unknown person according to Ramkrishna was a spiritual force that could manifest itself anywhere it wanted and did not have any physical or locational co-ordinates and largely dwelt in the Himalayan ranges,” the regulator’s order stated, according to The Indian Express.
The SEBI order quoted a letter by the National Stock Exchange dated November 2018, in which it stated that its legal advisors had consulted a psychology expert for the case. The expert reportedly stated that Subramaniam allegedly manipulated Ramakrishna by merely creating an identity of the ascetic.
Meanwhile, the regulator also imposed a fine of Rs 2 crore each on the National Stock Exchange and Ravi Narain, who was also a managing director of the exchange group. It levied a fine of Rs 6 lakh on VR Narasimhan, the former chief regulatory officer of the National Stock Exchange.
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