A Delhi court on Monday bluntly refused a request for home food for the ‘Himalayan Yogi’ fame former NSE head Chitra Ramkrishna during her custody. The court, instead, remanded Ramkrishna to 14-day judicial custody saying that every prisoner must be treated equally and the former NSE chief was ‘not a VIP.’
During the hearing, the federal probe agency CBI said that Ramkrishna had stopped cooperating and giving only ‘evasive replies.’
Ramkrishna’s lawyer, according to Bar and Bench, requested home-cooked food for her during her judicial custody. The judge replied, “I have also had the food many times. It’s quite good.”
The defence counsel also requested for other items, including a prayer book and masks. While the court agreed for prayer book, it turned down the request for home-cooked food saying, ‘VIP prisoners want everything then every rule should be changed. Every prisoner is the same. She’s not a VIP.’
Judge: VIP prisoners want everything then every rule should be changed. Every prisoner is the same. She’s not a VIP.#ChitraRamkrishna #NSE #CBI
— Bar & Bench (@barandbench) March 14, 2022
The CBI had arrested Chitra Ramkrishna last week in the Himalayan yogi scandal case. This was days after it emerged that a so-called ‘Himalayan yogi’ was none other than former NSE group operating officer Anand Subramanian. The CBI arrested Subramanian on 25 February after a SEBI report referred to the mysterious yogi influencing Ramakrishna’s actions as Subramanian.
Ramakrishna had appointed Subramanian as her advisor who was later elevated as group operating officer at an annual salary of Rs 4.21 crore. She had left the NSE in 2016.
The SEBI has imposed a fine of Rs. 3 crore on Ramkrishna, Rs. 2 crore each on the NSE, Subramanian, former NSE MD and CEO Ravi Narain, and Rs 6 lakh on V R Narasimhan, who was the chief regulatory officer and compliance officer.