CBI custody of ex-ICICI Bank CEO Chanda Kochhar, Deepak Kochhar, and Venugopal Dhoot extended till Dec 29

A special court in Mumbai on Wednesday extended till December 29 the CBI custody of former ICICI Bank CEO and MD Chanda Kochhar, her husband Deepak Kochhar and Videocon group founder Venugopal Dhoot in connection with a loan fraud case.

Central Bureau of Investigation arrested the Kochhars last Friday after questioning them briefly. Dhoot was arrested on Monday.

All the three were produced before special judge S M Menjoge at the end of their earlier remand on Wednesday.

The CBI, represented by special public prosecutor A Limosin, sought their custody for another two days for further probe into the case.

On Tuesday, the Vacation Bench of Bombay High Court refused any interim relief to the Kochhar couple and asked the petitioners to approach a regular bench when the court reopens after the Christmas-New Year holidays.

The CBI had named the Kochhars and Dhoot, along with companies Nupower Renewables (NRL) managed by Deepak Kochhar, Supreme Energy Private Limited (SEPL), Videocon International Electronics Ltd (VIEL) and Videocon Industries Limited, as accused in its FIR registered in 2019 under Indian Penal Code sections related to criminal conspiracy and the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The CBI has alleged that ICICI Bank had sanctioned credit facilities to the tune of Rs 3,250 crore to companies of the Videocon Group promoted by Dhoot in violation of the Banking Regulation Act, RBI guidelines, and credit policy of the bank.

According to the CBI, a sanctioning committee headed by Chanda Kochhar in 2009 approved a term loan of Rs 300 crore to VIEL in contravention of the rules and policies of the bank by abusing her official position as a public servant. The day after the loan was disbursed, Dhoot transferred Rs 64 crore to NRL from VIEL through SEPL.

During its preliminary inquiry, the CBI found that six loans worth Rs 1,875 crore were sanctioned to the Videocon Group and companies associated with it between June 2009 and October 2011, in an alleged violation of the laid-down policies of ICICI Bank.

The agency claimed the loans were declared non-performing assets in 2012, causing a loss of Rs 1,730 crore to the bank. 

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