Meet Arvind Gupta! The whistleblower responsible for Chanda Kochhar, Venugopal Dhoot's arrests

Meet Arvind Gupta! The whistleblower responsible for Chanda Kochhar, Venugopal Dhoot's arrests

Since 2016, Gupta had been flagging corporate governance issues at ICICI Bank when Chanda Kochhar was at helm of affairs

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Arvind Gupta, the whistleblower who exposed the ICICI Bank-Videocon scam in 2016Arvind Gupta, the whistleblower who exposed the ICICI Bank-Videocon scam in 2016
J Jagannath
  • Dec 29, 2022,
  • Updated Dec 29, 2022 4:52 PM IST

A special CBI court in Mumbai on Thursday sent former ICICI Bank CEO and MD Chanda Kochhar, her husband Deepak Kochhar and Videocon group founder Venugopal Dhoot to 14-day judicial custody in connection with a loan fraud case. The person who is at least partially responsible for this is Arvind Gupta, the whistleblower who took it upon himself to expose the alleged scam in 2016, which is worth over Rs 3,000 crore. 

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Gupta had levelled allegations of quid pro quo on the former ICICI Bank MD and CEO in letters addressed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"ICICI bank looks like a one-person show. Out of the nine committees they have, Chanda Kochhar is present on six of them. Their work culture needs to be examined," he said in his letter.

In a recent interview with Moneycontrol, Gupta said the arrests form only the “tip of the iceberg".

The Kochhars were arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) last Friday. Dhoot was arrested on Monday.

The three were produced before special judge S H Gwalani at the end of their earlier remand on Thursday.

"The probe has not yet identified Chanda Kochhar’s coterie of officials. What has happened now is only an early and preliminary detention," said Gupta. 

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Gupta said Dhoot agreeing to become an approver "will open a Pandora's box". He also said that many questions remain unanswered and which will get addressed in due course of time. Why would a big corporate company form a JV with a banker’s husband, asked Gupta while referring to the former ace banker's husband.

In 2019, Gupta expressed satisfaction over cases registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation against the Kochhars. 

"I think this is just a good beginning of the investigation. Its roots will go further deep and outside India also. I want the government to see how few companies in India are getting money from abroad. Whose money is this? Chanda Kochhar is just a tip of the iceberg. The situation is the same in all the banks. I feel all the corrupt bankers will now think 10 times before doing something wrong," Gupta told ANI.

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ALSO READ: Chanda Kochhar, Deepak & Venugopal Dhoot sent to judicial custody till Jan 10

A special CBI court in Mumbai on Thursday sent former ICICI Bank CEO and MD Chanda Kochhar, her husband Deepak Kochhar and Videocon group founder Venugopal Dhoot to 14-day judicial custody in connection with a loan fraud case. The person who is at least partially responsible for this is Arvind Gupta, the whistleblower who took it upon himself to expose the alleged scam in 2016, which is worth over Rs 3,000 crore. 

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Gupta had levelled allegations of quid pro quo on the former ICICI Bank MD and CEO in letters addressed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"ICICI bank looks like a one-person show. Out of the nine committees they have, Chanda Kochhar is present on six of them. Their work culture needs to be examined," he said in his letter.

In a recent interview with Moneycontrol, Gupta said the arrests form only the “tip of the iceberg".

The Kochhars were arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) last Friday. Dhoot was arrested on Monday.

The three were produced before special judge S H Gwalani at the end of their earlier remand on Thursday.

"The probe has not yet identified Chanda Kochhar’s coterie of officials. What has happened now is only an early and preliminary detention," said Gupta. 

Advertisement

Gupta said Dhoot agreeing to become an approver "will open a Pandora's box". He also said that many questions remain unanswered and which will get addressed in due course of time. Why would a big corporate company form a JV with a banker’s husband, asked Gupta while referring to the former ace banker's husband.

In 2019, Gupta expressed satisfaction over cases registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation against the Kochhars. 

"I think this is just a good beginning of the investigation. Its roots will go further deep and outside India also. I want the government to see how few companies in India are getting money from abroad. Whose money is this? Chanda Kochhar is just a tip of the iceberg. The situation is the same in all the banks. I feel all the corrupt bankers will now think 10 times before doing something wrong," Gupta told ANI.

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ALSO READ: Chanda Kochhar, Deepak & Venugopal Dhoot sent to judicial custody till Jan 10

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