Phone tapping case: Delhi HC grants bail to ex-NSE chief Chitra Ramkrishna (Lead)

New Delhi, Feb 9 (IANS) The Delhi High Court Thursday granted bail to former National Stock Exchange (NSE) Managing Director and CEO Chitra Ramkrishna in a money laundering case related to the alleged illegal phone tapping of employees, saying that, prima facie, there are reasonable grounds to believe she is not guilty.

"Prima facie there are reasonable grounds to believe that the applicant is not guilty of the offence and she is not likely to commit any offence while on bail," a bench of Justice Jasmeet Singh said.

The Enforcement Directorate in September last year, had filed a charge sheet in the Rouse Avenue courts in connection with a Prevention of Money Laundering case pertaining to phone tapping of NSE employees between 2009 and 2017.

The charge sheet was filed against NSE's Ramkrishna - who was in custody for almost seven months in the matter, her predecessor Ravi Narain, and former Mumbai Police Commissioner Sanjay Pandey.

Ramkrishna, who is already on bail in the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)'s case, was granted bail on a personal bond of Rs one lakh and two sureties of the like amount and certain conditions like joining the investigation and not leaving the country.

Justice Singh also observed: "In the present case there is no allegation that the applicant has derived or obtained any property or proceeds of crime. Additionally, there is no allegation or evidence produced before me to suggest that the applicant has concealed, possessed, used, projected or claimed any proceeds of crime as untainted property."

The ED had opposed her bail plea on grounds that she was the kingpin of the conspiracy.

Justice Singh, however, said that under the Indian Penal Code Sections or under the Prevention of Corruption Act, prima facie, no scheduled offences are established and thus the provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act cannot be attracted.

The court also noted that the ED has not identified any complaint or victim who has suffered a wrongful loss on account of deception or cheating by the accused. Last year in August, the Rouse Avenue court had denied her bail in the ED's case.

On December 8, the High Court had also granted bail to former Mumbai Police chief Pandey in the money laundering case.

Justice Singh had observed that phone tapping or recording calls without the individual's permission is "breach of privacy".

"I am prima facie of the view that tapping phone lines or recording calls without consent is a breach of privacy. The right to privacy enshrined under Article 21 of the Constitution demands that phone calls not be recorded. Only with consent of the individuals concerned, can such activity be carried out otherwise it will amount to breach of the fundamental right to privacy," Justice Singh had said.

The ED's case was on the basis of the CBI's FIR, lodged on the directions of Union Ministry of Home Affairs. The ED had claimed that Pandey received Rs 4.54 crore to tap the MTNL lines to help Ramkrishna and these were proceeds of crime.

"Pandey ran iSec Securities Pvt. Ltd. It has been alleged that Ramkrishna used this firm to tap the phones of NSE employees. The phone calls made by NSE employees between 9 a.m. and 10 a.m. were tapped and recorded by iSec Securities Pvt. Ltd. It has been alleged that Pandey helped in tapping the phone calls illegally," an agency source had said.