ICICI Bank case: CBI cites panel report, claims vindication

NEW DELHI: With the Justice B N Krishna Committee indicting Chanda Kochhar for violating regulations as the CEO of ICICI Bank, CBI officials claimed that they were “vindicated”. Agency sources said they would analyse the report during its probe.

Asserting that the committee’s report showed that CBI’s decision to convert its preliminary enquiry into an FIR was “justified”, an officer said, “There was enough documentary evidence against Chanda Kochhar during the enquiry. Also, circumstantial evidence showed that the bribe was paid by Videocon group within days of getting loan from ICICI Bank.”

CBI sources said they would start examining the named accused — Chanda Kochhar, her husband Deepak Kochhar, Videocon’s Venugopal Dhoot and others — soon to know about the loans, transfer of shares by Dhoot in Kochhar’s name etc.

Meanwhile, Kochhar in a statement said she was “disappointed, hurt and shocked” by ICICI Bank’s decision to treat her resignation as a “termination for cause”. Kochhar, who was on leave from June, finally resigned in early October.