The Delhi High Court on Wednesday dismissed the Central Bureau of Investigation's (CBI's) challenge to the bail granted to former National Stock Exchange (NSE) managing director Chitra Ramkrishna in the alleged phone interception case. Justice Madhu Jain rejected the CBI's petition challenging the trial court's December 22, 2022 order that released Ramkrishna on bail. According to reports from PTI, the court's decision means the bail granted to Ramkrishna by the trial court remains in place, subject to a detailed order that is awaited. The case involves allegations of illegal phone-tapping by NSE officials in collaboration with iSec Services Pvt Ltd.
The trial court had imposed specific conditions on Ramkrishna's bail, directing her to appear before the court as and when hearings take place and join the investigation whenever called by the investigating officer. The court further directed that she would not communicate with, or come into contact with any of the prosecution witnesses or tamper with the evidence of the case. Additionally, Ramkrishna was granted bail by the high court on February 9, 2023 in a separate money laundering case related to the alleged scam. The CBI had framed charges against Ramkrishna under Sections 13(1)(d) and 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act and Section 120B of the Indian Penal Code in April 2022. In its appeal, the CBI claimed that the trial court erred in granting bail to Ramkrishna since the case was of a sensitive nature.
The case centers on allegations that telephone conversations of NSE employees were unlawfully intercepted between 2009 and 2017. As reported by PTI, the CBI has alleged that Ramkrishna, along with former NSE chief executive officer Ravi Narain, executive vice-president Ravi Varanasi and head of premises Mahesh Haldipur, engaged iSEC Services to monitor and intercept employees' telephone calls. According to the CBI's FIR, the officials allegedly conspired with iSEC to cheat NSE and its employees, with the agency subsequently engaging iSEC to intercept phone calls as part of the alleged criminal conspiracy. The interceptions were carried out under the purported pretext of conducting periodic cybersecurity vulnerability assessments at the stock exchange.
Ramkrishna joined NSE as joint managing director in 2009 and held the position until March 31, 2013. She was appointed managing director and chief executive officer on April 1, 2013, and remained in the post until December 2016. The phone-tapping case is separate from the co-location case in which Ramkrishna is facing proceedings under the Prevention of Corruption Act. On September 16, the Supreme Court rejected Ramkrishna's appeal challenging her categorisation as a public servant under the anti-corruption law in the co-location case. The co-location case concerns allegations of improper dissemination of information from NSE's computer servers to select stockbrokers, with alleged irregularities taking place between 2010 and 2014.
On July 9, 2026, the Delhi High Court dismissed a petition filed by Ramkrishna challenging the constitutional validity of the definitions of "public duty" and "public servant" under the Prevention of Corruption Act (PC Act). The bench held that the NSE performs functions of public importance and its top executive cannot be divorced from those functions. The court ruled that the NSE discharges a public duty and that Ramkrishna, as its MD and CEO during the relevant period, cannot be wholly separated from the functions performed by the exchange in which the public at large has a significant interest. The bench also rejected Ramkrishna's challenge to the sanction granted for her prosecution under the Prevention of Corruption Act, reinforcing her legal position in the ongoing proceedings.
