Ex- Mumbai police Chief Sanjay Pandey moves bail in NSE case, says 'ED proceedings against me are a political fallout'

By Sushil Batra
New Delhi [India], July 31 : The former Mumbai Police Commissioner Sanjay Pandey, who was recently arrested by Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the NSE phone tapping and snooping case, moved a bail petition in a Delhi Court.
Pandey said that "he had investigated and prosecuted several high-profile and politically sensitive cases and the instant proceedings are a political fallout of honest and sincere discharge of his duties as a senior police officer."
The instant case is clearly motivated by political considerations and it is also evident from the fact that an offence that allegedly occurred between 2009 and 2017 is being investigated in 2022 i.e., thirteen years after its purported commencement and five years after its purported closure; and that too within a week of the Applicant demitting his office, stated Sanjay Pandey's bail petition.
Advocate Aditya Wadhwa with Advocate Siddharth Sunil represented Sanjay Pandey and submitted that the huge delay in the registration of the said FIR raises serious doubts as to the bonafide of the investigation. It appears that the applicant (Sanjay Pandey) is arraigned in the present case, for no fault of his own, and only to fulfill some political vendetta.
A Delhi Court, which examined the National Stock Exchange phone tapping and the snooping case, has issued notice to ED on the bail petition. Pandey was arrested by ED under money laundering sections in alleged illegal phone tapping and snooping of employees of the stock exchange and is presently in ED remand till August 2, 2022.
Special Judge Sunena Sharma on Friday sought the response of the Financial probe agency and fixed the matter for August 2, 2022. Meanwhile, Court had also extended the remand period of Samay Pandey till August 2, 2022. He was earlier sent to 9 days ED remand for further interrogation and confronted the accused with several documents.
Earlier, during the arguments held before the court, Sanjay Pandey spoke to the judge directly and said he did not tap phone in the NSE.
"The project that ISEC was called analysis of recorded calls. We never did any tapping any live monitoring. We neither had equipment nor were told to tap. Every recording was done by NSE. The machine was installed in NSE and they are the ones who tapped. What is my culpability?"
Advocate Aditya Wadhwa appeared for Sanjay Pandey and submitted that the company carries out a forensic study of conversations that had been independently recorded by NSE. "I gave an analysis of the same. Call analysis is what I did for them."
Pandey's lawyer said his work was of Periodic study of cyber vulnerabilities. "I would isolate suspicious calls. I am checking any suspicious calls within NSE."
Advocate Wadhwa also submitted that "I was a capable public servant till June 30. I was handling the law and order situation in Mumbai as a police commissioner till then. Suddenly after my retirement, 2 FIRs have been registered against me in just 7 days. And now I am arrested. My arresting is clear a political vendetta."
For ED, Additional Solicitor General (ASG) SV Raju and Special Public Prosecutor Naveen Kumar Matta had appeared and submitted that he (Sanjay Pandey) resigned in April 2000 and there was litigation between 2001-2006 his service. VRS moved in 2007 and in October 2008 and he withdrew that. He formed a company incorporated in 2001 when this was incorporated he was still in service even if he was not the director of the company, he attended the meeting. We have records defacto he was in control. ED further submitted that the contract came in as facade 120-B is a predicate offense / criminal conspiracy held. MTNL lines were tapped. This company was a family concern and 4.54 crores were proceeds of crime.
The agency's move comes after it reportedly found enough evidence in the NSE co-location scam in which it wanted to know the role of an audit company, incorporated in 2001 by the retired Mumbai Police chief, for raising a red flag that the NSE servers were compromised. The compromise had allowed one of the trading companies to get unfair access to the system, resulting in windfall profits.
The case is already being probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) since 2018.
It is alleged that the firm incorporated by Pandey was one of the IT companies tasked with conducting security audits at NSE during 2010 to 2015 when the co-location scam is believed to have taken place.