NSE Scam: The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has everything it takes to trace the identity of the ‘Yogi’ who is at the center of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) scam. In fact, with the help of CBI, the market regular can find this yogi in just 10 to 15 days by taking a constable from a nearby police station along with him. Nishant Singh, a cyber forensics expert has said this.
Singh is the Director of Forensic Investigation and Consultancy Services and has been regularly called upon as expert witness in court cases involving private and government entities. His company has investigated frauds in cooperative banks, audited software used by Delhi Police Academies and conducted forensic investigations for multinational advisories such as PwC.
Former MD of NSE had disclosed
The exchange has been in trouble after former NSE MD and CEO Chitra Ramakrishna was revealed to have taken guidance from an unidentified ‘yogi of the Himalayas’ and shared confidential information with him to run the enterprise.
Even after investigating this scandal for more than four years, SEBI is yet to ascertain the identity of this ‘Yogi’.
Identity can be opened only by email id
Singh said all the regulators need the email id of ‘Yogi’, which is [email protected]. From the email id alone, everything can be traced to the investigator’s phone number, location (actual address) and identity of the person and from where and how many times he used this account.
What happened to the EY report?
SEBI had appointed audit and advisory firm EY along with Deloitte to probe the co-location scam. In 2017, EY submitted its report, which included a study on the exchange of emails between Ramakrishna and an outside influencer.
The company had identified Yogi as Anand Subramanian, now disgraced and former Group Operating Officer. When SEBI passed its order on February 11, 2022, the regulator rejected the findings of EY, pointing to insufficient and contradictory evidence.
The regulator said that EY only examined the desktops given by Ramakrishna and Subramanian and not the laptops that were handed over to Exchange and Subramanian. Also, only official email ids of Ramakrishna and Subramanian were checked, while their private email ids were not traced.
Objections can be resolved
Singh said that both these objections can be resolved. He said, “First of all, there is no need for a laptop to identify Yogi. Second, it is not possible to verify a private email ID for a private entity like EY, but it can be done by a government investigative agency.
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