The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on Thursday issued a notice of demand of Rs 2 crore to Ravi Narain, former chief executive officer (CEO) of the National Stock Exchange (NSE), in the matter of governance issues of the exchange. “A sum of Rs 2,06,01,000/- (Rupees Two Crore Six Lakh One Thousand) along with further interest, all costs, charges and expenses incurred in respect of all the proceedings taken for recovery of the said sum is due to Sebi from you (Narain),” Sebi said on Thursday.
The regulator has asked the former NSE chief to pay the amount within 15 days of the receipt of the notice. In the case of non-payment of the dues, Sebi said it will recover the amount by attaching and selling Narain’s movable/immovable property, attaching bank accounts, arrest and detention in prison, and appointing a receiver for the management of Narain’s movable and immovable properties.
The notice to Narain comes following several developments in the NSE case, including the arrest of former NSE CEO Chitra Ramkrishna, and former NSE group operating officer Anand Subramanian, in the last couple of months. On February 11 this year, the market regulator had imposed penalties of Rs 3 crore on Ramkrishna, Rs 2 crore on Narain and another Rs 2 crore penalty each on NSE and Anand Subramanian — primarily for governance issues over appointment of chief strategic officer in 2013 and leaking of sensitive information related to the exchanges to an “unknown person”.
Sebi in its notice on Thursday further stated that Narain no more remains competent to mortgage, charge, lease or otherwise deal with any property belonging to him, except with the permission of the recovery officer, and any such transfer will be deemed void under the rules of the regulator.