New Delhi: ED on Tuesday opposed in the Delhi HC the bail plea of former MD of National Stock Exchange Chitra Ramkrishna in a money laundering case related to alleged illegal phone tapping of NSE employees, saying she was the "mastermind" behind the criminal conspiracy.
The ED told Justice Jasmeet Singh that the "proposal for call interception and monitoring, which was in the guise of study of cyber vulnerability", was processed through Ramkrishna who was the deputy managing director at the relevant time, and that she identified the telephone numbers and the employees for monitoring.
It said that all the approvals were either processed through her or given by her and that the "illegal interception was co-terminus with her tenure at NSE".
"She represented NSE at an initial meeting for the award of the contract. The telephone numbers and the employees who were identified for monitoring were identified by her.
"We have statements of multiple people who were working at NSE at that time, who all corroborate that she was identifying the telephone numbers and the employees. When confronted with them , she admits to these. There is no denial. In fact, the mastermind of this entire criminal conspiracy is the applicant before my lord," submitted advocate Zoheb Hossain on behalf of
the ED.