Sebi to soon get access to call data records in specific cases, says PC

This will be welcome news for the top brass of Sebi, including chairman UK Sinha, who has been demanding such access for a long time. There have been instances where the regulator used call records to nail culprits and, so, it has been demanding such powers on a regular basis.

According to PTI, finance minister P Chidambaram has said that the government is making an arrangement for Sebi getting access to call data records of people being probed by it in specific cases, but it will not get power to directly tap phone calls.

“...some arrangement is being made that call data records will be supplied through the agencies entitled to get them to Sebi,” Chidambaram told PTI in an interview. “They (Sebi) won't have the power to directly tap into the phone calls. Records can be made available to them by the authorities concerned. Some progress is being made,” he said.

He was replying to queries about Sebi seeking access to call data records of people it investigates in cases related to stock markets.

Meanwhile, asked about intelligence reports of some terror groups pumping money into the stock market, Chidambaram said the matter falls under the jurisdiction of the home ministry: “I can't conduct an enquiry into terror groups putting

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