The Bombay High Court’s vacation bench on Tuesday refused to intervene in the matter of former ICICI Bank MD and CEO Chanda Kochhar and her husband Deepak Kochhar’s arrest. The bench has asked the Kochhar couple to approach the regular bench after the High Court re-opens post vacation.
The couple had challenged their arrest by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the ICICI loan fraud case in the High Court.
Chanda Kochhar, Deepak Kochhar, Videocon Group’s Venugopal Dhoot as well as the firms Nupower Renewables (NRL), Supreme Energy, Videocon International Electronics Ltd, and Videocon Industries Limited have been named as accused in the FIR filed in 2019. The FIR was filed under IPC sections related to criminal conspiracy and provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
‘Kochhars not cooperating in probe’
Earlier on Tuesday, the CBI told a Mumbai CBI court that the Kochhar couple as well as Dhoot were not cooperating with the probe in the Rs 3,250-crore Videocon loan scam.
The CBI had arrested the couple on Friday night, while Dhoot was held Monday morning. The Kochhars had been remanded to CBI custody till December 26. The court has remanded the couple to CBI custody till December 28.
ICICI Bank loan fraud case
There are allegations by the CBI of fraud and irregularities in loans sanctioned to Videocon group between 2009 and 2011. Chanda Kochhar was the head of the bank then. The bank had earlier terminated her as CEO and denied her executive retirement benefits.
