The Enforcement Directorate on Tuesday arrested former Mumbai Police Commissioner Sanjay Pandey in connection with a case of allegedly tapping phones of employees of the National Stock Exchange, reported PTI.
A court in Delhi remanded him to the Enforcement Directorate’s custody for nine days. The agency had sought his custody for 14 days, according to ANI.
Pandey was booked by the agency on money laundering charges on July 14 along with former chiefs of the National Stock Exchange Chitra Ramkrishna and Ravi Narain. He was arrested on Thursday after the second round of questioning.
The case is linked to alleged phone tapping of employees of the National Stock Exchange during the period when a co-location scam took place. The CBI has alleged that Pandey had set up a company called iSec Securities, which was used for electronic surveillance of the employees.
The co-location scam pertains to allegations of preferential access to the National Stock Exchange trading platform that allowed certain brokers to trade before the markets opened. The first FIR in the case was filed in 2018.
Ramkrishna has already been arrested in connection with the co-location scam. On Monday, a Delhi court had extended Ramkrishna’s Enforcement Directorate custody by four days.
Ramkrishna and Narain, both former managing directors and chief executive officers of the stock exchange, have already been booked for the co-location scam by the Central Bureau of Investigation. Pandey and the former National Stock Exchange bosses were booked by the CBI in the phone tapping case on July 8.
Pandey was first questioned by the Enforcement Directorate on July 5 for its investigation into a money laundering angle in the co-location scam. He had retired as Mumbai Police commissioner on June 30.
Enforcement Directorate officials said that the agency had found evidence of secret phone surveillance during the questioning. The agency then informed about the development to the Union home affairs ministry which asked the CBI to investigate the case, the officials added.
iSec Securities was one of the firms tasked to conduct security audits at the National Stock Exchange between 2010 to 2015, during which the co-location scam allegedly took place. The company did not alert the stock exchange that its servers were compromised, the CBI has alleged.
Limited-time offer: Big stories, small price. Keep independent media alive. Become a Scroll member today!
Our journalism is for everyone. But you can get special privileges by buying an annual Scroll Membership. Sign up today!