CBI custody of Chanda Kochhar, her husband & Videocon’s Venugopal Dhoot extended till Dec 29

A special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court on Wednesday extended the custody of former CEO and MD of ICICI Bank Chanda Kochhar, her husband Deepak Kochhar, and Videocon chairman Venugopal Dhoot in an alleged money laundering case, till December 29.

The federal agency had sought two more days of custody of the trio in the ICICI Bank-Videocon fraud case. The Kochhars and Dhoot were arrested last week in a case pertaining to alleged irregularities and corrupt practices in the sanction of six loans worth ₹1,875 given by ICICI Bank to the Videocon Group between 2009 and 2011.

The CBI named the Kochhars and Dhoot along with firms Nupower Renewables (NRL) managed by Deepak, Supreme Energy Private Limited (SEPL), Videocon International Electronics Ltd (VIEL) and Videocon Industries Limited as accused in the First Information Report (FIR) lodged in 2019 under Indian Penal Code (IPC).

According to its preliminary findings, the CBI claimed that a sanctioning committee led by Chanda in 2009 approved a term loan of ₹300 crore to VIEL in violation of the laid down rules and policies of ICICI Bank by misusing her official position as a public servant. The central agency further alleged that the loans were declared non-performing assets in 2012, resulting in the loss of ₹1,730 crore to the bank.

The CBI had got the trio’s custody on Monday and it was valid till today.

Meanwhile, the Kochhars’ challenge against their arrest by the agency was refused to be heard by a vacation bench of the Bombay high court on Tuesday. The bench said that it won’t intervene in the case and asked the couple to approach a regular bench when the court reopens after the Christmas and New Year’s holidays.

The Kochhars stated that they were arrested without prior sanction under Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA). They also sought directions from the court to quash and set aside remand order.