A special CBI court in Mumbai on Thursday sends Chanda Kocchar, her husnband Deepak Kochhar, and Venugopal Dhoot to 14-day judicial custody, reported by news agency ANI.
ICICI bank-Videocon loan fraud case | Special CBI court sends Chanda Kocchar, Deepak Kochhar and VN Dhoot to 14-day judicial custody.
— ANI (@ANI) December 29, 2022
The Kochhars and Dhoot, who were arrested on last Saturday and Monday, respectively, and are currently under the CBI custody. The couple was nabbed on December 24 in New Delhi by the central agency, while Dhoot was arrested on December 26 and remanded by a Mumbai Special CBI Judge AS Sayyad to the agency’s custody.
The sensational arrests came in connection with the alleged cheating and irregularities in a Rs 3,250 crore ICICI Bank loan extended to Videocon Group in 2012, which became a non performing asset by 2017.
The CBI has alleged that ICICI Bank sanctioned credit facilities to the tune of Rs 3,250 crore to the companies of Videocon Group promoted by Venugopal Dhoot in violation of the Banking Regulation Act, RBI guidelines and the credit policy of the bank. The probing agency also applied to the court seeking permission to invoke the charge of ‘criminal breach of trust’ under the Indian Penal Code against them.
According to reports, Chanda Kochhar (59) resigned as CEO and MD of ICICI Bank in October 2018 over allegations that she had favoured Videocon Group, a consumer electronics and oil and gas exploration company, in the bank’s lending practices.
It is alleged that Dhoot had reportedly invested crores of rupees in NuPower Renewables months after the Videocon Group got Rs 3,250 crore as a loan from ICICI Bank in 2012, CBI said.
A whistle-blower, who brought the case to fore, later saw Chanda being charged with misusing her official position, favouritism, etc., as an alleged quid pro quo deal which benefited her family.
The CBI, after filing the FIR in 2019, in a statement said that the accused had sanctioned certain loans to private companies in a criminal conspiracy with others to cheat ICICI Bank.