In the NSE phone-tapping case, the CBI has filed charges against former NSE CEOs and former top cop Sanjay Pandey.
In connection with the NSE phone-tapping case, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed a chargesheet against former National Stock Exchange (NSE) CEOs Chitra Ramkrishna and Ravi Narain, former Mumbai police commissioner and former director of iSEC Services Private Ltd. Sanjay Pandey, and other top executives on Friday.
“We have filed a chargesheet against the New Delhi/Mumbai-based private company M/s iSEC Services Pvt Ltd, Pandey, the then director of ISEC, Naman Chaturvedi, the then senior information security analyst of ISEC, Jagdish Tukaram Dalvi of ISEC, Ravi Varanasi, the then executive vice-president of NSE, Mahesh Haldipur, the then head (premises of NSE), Ravi
The investigation revealed that Pandey was working as a police officer while allegedly handling the company’s affairs, according to a company representative. “The NSE paid the private company around Rs 4.54 crore over the course of eight years for illegally intercepting the phone calls of NSE workers in the garb of a cyber vulnerability research. Hundreds of NSE employees’ call records were allegedly stored by a private entity without the knowledge or agreement of the NSE board or employees. “During the course of the inquiry, the CBI arrested Pandey, Narain, and Ramakrishna,” the official explained.
On July 7, the CBI indicted the retired IPS officer and others in the phone-tapping case. The Enforcement Directorate filed a case against Pandey four days later and arrested him on July 19; the CBI nabbed him on September 24. “The illegal wiretapping of NSE personnel was discovered during the investigation of another case involving the NSE co-location fraud. The unauthorised recording and monitoring of phone calls at NSE allegedly began in 1997 when Narain and Ramakrishna connected staff call lines to a digital voice recorder provided by a private company, according to a company representative.
According to officials, iSec Services Pvt Ltd, a business created by Pandey, conducted the security audit at NSE during the alleged co-location fraud period.
“During 1997-2009, Ramakrishna allegedly supervised the interception with the assistance of many NSE workers. In 2009, the surveillance of phone calls was delegated to Pandey’s suspected private company. “The work order was allegedly issued to the private company under the guise of performing periodic studies of cyber vulnerabilities in order to maintain secrecy,” the spokeswoman stated.
