PremiumThe references about former NSE CEO Chitra Ramkrishna and the Himalayan yogi is part of the Sebi order passed against her and others in a matter of governance lapses in the appointment of Anand Subramanian as the chief strategic advisor
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Days after a Sebi order revealed the influence of an unknown Himalayan yogi on NSE's former MD and CEO Chitra Ramkrishna, ex-NSE board member TV Mohandas Pai and Biocon's Executive Chairperson Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw engaged in a heated social media exchange over the matter.
Both personalities, who are generally vocal about their views on various issues, sparred on Twitter, with one of them wondering whether there were no checks and balances at the exchange.
Sharing a link of an article on the Sebi order on her Twitter handle, Mazumdar-Shaw said: “A Yogi Ran India's Top Stock Exchange As Puppet Master: Regulator - Shocking lack of governance in NSE that was held up as a world class SE. Were there no checks n balances? (sic)."
The tweet came on 13 February after Sebi's detailed order in the NSE matter on 11 February.
Responding to Mazumdar-Shaw's tweet, Pai, on 14 February, said one should stop spreading falsehoods and that no yogi ran the exchange.
" No yogi ran NSE!Pl stop spreading such falsehoods!Do you really believe that a very sophisticated technology based SE,one of the largest in the world was run successfully by some vague Yogi?You are doing disservice to all those great employees who worked 24x7 @NSEIndia (sic)," Pai said.
Among other roles, Pai was a member of boards of Infosys and NSE.
On 15 February, Mazumdar-Shaw replied to Pai's comments and wondered whether the Sebi report should be junked.
" So do we junk the SEBI report? The employees of NSE were innocent. But if indeed Chitra Ramkrishna did connive with an outsider it’s dangerously outrageous (sic)," she tweeted.
Mazumdar-Shaw also responded to a few others on Twitter.
On 14 February, when a user mentioned that "this Yogi was in White Kurta & White lungi and was sitting in Finance Ministry! BTW, during this yogi's stint at Home Ministry, Finance Ministry was bugged!", she responded by saying "I wish all the beans could be spilled!".
Sebi order
The references about Ramkrishna and the Himalayan yogi is part of the Sebi order passed against Ramkrishna and others in a matter of governance lapses in the appointment of Anand Subramanian as the chief strategic advisor and his re-designation as group operating officer and advisor to MD.
Apart from this, Ramkrishna had shared certain internal confidential information, including financial and business plans of NSE, dividend scenario, financial results with the yogi, and even consulted him over the performance appraisals of the exchange's employees.
A 190-page Sebi order has revealed that Ramkrishna – who served as the MD and CEO of NSE from April 2013 to December 2016 – referred to the Himalayan yogi as 'Sironmani'.
The spiritual guru, who Ramkrishna claimed was dwelling in Himalayan ranges, guided her on personal and professional matters for 20 years.
The unknown person or yogi according to Ramkrishna was a "spiritual force that could manifest itself anywhere it wanted and did not have any physical or locational co-ordinates and largely dwelt in the Himalayan range".
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