Cites lack of evidence to establish collusion, connivance with OPG Securities

Sebi on Friday dismissed regulatory violation charges against the NSE and its seven former employees, including Chitra Ramkrishna and Ravi Narain, in the matter of the co-location facility, citing the absence of sufficient evidence.
“Due to the absence of sufficient material/evidence/objective facts on record in this case, the test of preponderance of probability’ fails to produce enough justification for the establishment of collusion/connivance between OPG and its directors with Noticees (NSE and its seven employees),” Seb said in its 83-page order.
Apart from NSE, Ramkrishna and Narain, Sebi has dropped charges against Anand Subramanian, Ravindra Apte, Umesh Jain, Mahesh Soparkar and Deviprasad Singh.
The case relates to the alleged preferential access given to certain broking firms in the form of ‘dark fibre’ at the National Stock Exchange (NSE) to connect across the colocation facilities before other members.
The dark fibre or unlit fibre, with respect to network connectivity,

These are related to metrics such as shipment volumes, Service EBITDA and cost per shipment

The domestic equity barometers ended with minor losses on Friday. The benchmark Nifty 50 index closed below the 25,400 mark. FMCG and oil & gas sectors faced selling pressure, while realty, media, and PSU bank stocks gained ground. Global equity markets remained largely positive, buoyed by US macroeconomic data suggesting that inflation may be under control. However, weaker-than-expected US labor market data tempered some of this optimism. Domestic sentiment was supported by daily FII inflows and a decline in US 10-year Treasury yields.