A Himalayan ascetic is believed to have guided former National Stock Exchange chief executive Chitra Ramakrishna in the appointment of group chief operating officer Anand Subramaniam, the Securities and Exchange Board of India, or SEBI, said in an order, PTI reported on Saturday.

Ramkrishna served as the managing director and general manager of the exchange group from April 2013 to December 2016.

SEBI’s order relates to alleged violations of securities contract rules related to the appointment of Subramaniam, The Indian Express reported. He imposed a fine of Rs 3 crore on Ramkrishna and Rs 2 crore on Subramaniam.

SEBI said Ramakrishna shared confidential information about the National Stock Exchange, including its business plan and financial results, with the ascetic, and also discussed employee performance reviews with him.

Ramkrishna also gave “frequent, arbitrary and disproportionate” salary increases to Subramaniam, and there was no evidence that she conducted a performance appraisal for it, SEBI said. He also said there was no evidence to support the A+ rating given to him.

Subramaniam joined the National Stock Exchange in April 2013 with an annual fee of Rs 1.68 crore, according to PTI. By April 2016, his compensation had risen to Rs 4.21 crore.

“The unknown person according to Ramkrishna was a spiritual force that could manifest anywhere and had no physical coordinates or location and largely dwelt in the Himalayan ranges,” the regulator’s order said. , according to The Indian Express.

The SEBI order cited a letter from the National Stock Exchange dated November 2018, in which it said its legal advisers consulted with a psychology expert in the matter. The expert is said to have said that Subramaniam manipulated Ramakrishna into simply creating an identity of the ascetic.

Meanwhile, the regulator also imposed a fine of Rs 2 crore each on the National Stock Exchange and Ravi Narain, who was also the managing director of the exchange group. It imposed a fine of Rs 6 lakh on VR Narasimhan, the former regulatory director of the National Stock Exchange.