ICICI Bank-Videocon fraud case: Court remands Chanda Kochhar, Deepak Kochhar, Venugopal Dhoot to CBI custody till Dec 28

A special CBI court on Monday allowed CBI to have three-day custody of Videocon chairman Venugopal Dhoot, former MD & CEO of ICICI Bank Chanda Kochhar and Deepak Kochhar in connection with the ICICI Bank -Videocon loan fraud case.

The Kochhars were arrested by the probe agency on Friday night after a brief questioning session. Dhoot, 71, was arrested on Monday morning.

All three were produced before special court judge AS Sayyad.

The Central Bureau of Investigation, represented by special public prosecutor A. Limosin, sought three-day custody to confront all the accused.

In early 2019, the CBI filed a case of criminal conspiracy and fraud against Dhoot, former ICICI Bank Chief Executive Chanda Kochhar and her husband Deepak Kochhar.

The agency alleged that ICICI Bank, under Chanda Kochhar, sanctioned 'high value' loans to Videocon, violating the bank's lending policies, in exchange for an investment by the consumer electronics company's owner in a business headed by Kochhar's husband.

Vikram Chaudhary, who represented Deepak Kochhar, said he was arrested and granted bail after six months.

"ED has challenged the bail before the High Court. There is, however, a stay on the ED case from Bombay High Court. There is an umbilical cord connection between CBI and ED case. When Deepak was arrested, CBI didn't want to arrest and examine him for all these years and now they are doing this even after the authority ruled in his favour. Why is the CBI not speaking about all these? This investigating agency maintains an eerie silence for 4 years and arrests him when his son's marriage is fixed for Jan 15. They are seeking that 409 IPC (criminal breach of trust) be added in the case. This is not how CBI, a premier agency should be conducting it's work," said Chaudhary. 

CBI said Dhoot is Chairman of Videocon and ultimate beneficiary and was evading being questioned. 

"First notice was given to him on December 23. Second notice was given on December 25. We couldn't confront him with them so we had to arrest," said CBI. 

"Dhoot's arrest itself is wrong and custody should be cancelled. Else grant interim bail. There is nothing from CBI to show that Dhoot was not eligible for the loan or the bank officers were not eligible to grant. The amount together with interest has already been paid," said Dhoot's lawyer, adding that he's suffering from medical issues. The court said that it will seek CBI reply on these applications on December 27.

Amit Desai, the advocate for Chanda Kochhar, told the court that there is no instance where the CBI filed a chargesheet against his client and she was found guilty as charged.

"The CBI did not investigate for two days. How can it then say that my client is not cooperating?" Desai said. The CBI, in its chargesheet, said, "Dhoot has not disclosed full and true facts and for making proper investigation and taking the case to the logical end. He is required to be confronted with Chanda Kochhar and Deepak Kochhar."

The case is related to alleged irregularities and corrupt practices in the sanction of a Rs 1,875 crore loan disbursed by ICICI Bank to the Videocon Group between 2009 and 2011.

During its preliminary enquiry, 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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