ICICI Bank Loan Fraud Case: Chanda Kochhar, Deepak Kochhar And Venugopal Dhoot Sent To Judicial Custody Till 10 January

A special CBI court in Mumbai on Thursday (29 December) 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.

Chanda and Deepak Kochhar was arrested by CBI last Friday after questioning them briefly in the loan case, which surfaced in 2018. Dhoot was arrested on Monday (26 December).

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

The CBI, represented by special public prosecutor A Limosin, did not seek their further custody in the bank fraud case.

The court then sent all the three accused to judicial custody till 10 January 2023.

The CBI had named the Kochhars and Dhoot, along with companies Nupower Renewables (NRL) managed by Deepak Kochhar, Supreme Energy, Videocon International Electronics Ltd, and Videocon Industries Limited, as accused in the FIR registered under IPC sections related to criminal conspiracy and provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act in 2019.

The agency had alleged that ICICI Bank had sanctioned credit facilities to the tune of Rs 3,250 crore to the companies of Videocon Group promoted by Dhoot in violation of the Banking Regulation Act, RBI guidelines, and credit policy of the bank.

It was also alleged that as a part of the quid pro quo, Dhoot made an investment of Rs 64 crore in Nupower Renewables through Supreme Energy Pvt Ltd (SEPL) and transferred SEPL to Pinnacle Energy Trust managed by Deepak Kochhar through a circuitous route between 2010 and 2012, the FIR has alleged.

But eventually, the disbursed loan turned into a Non-Performing Asset (NPA), and was later marked as a 'bank fraud', reports Business Today.

According to CBI, as part of another quid pro quo, Chanda Kochhar reportedly lived in a flat without paying any consideration during the period she dealt with the loan proposal of Videocon Group. The flat was under litigation between Videocon and Deepak Kochhar. 

The probing agency said in 2016, the flat, which was about Rs 5.25 crore in 1996, was transferred to Quality Advisor, a family trust of Deepak Kochhar, for a paltry amount of Rs 11 lakh.    

(With inputs from PTI)