Former ICICI Bank CEO Chanda Kochhar and her husband Deepak Kochhar arrested by CBI | File Photo
On Friday, September 6, the Supreme Court issued a notice to Chanda Kochhar, former managing director and CEO of ICICI Bank, and her husband Deepak Kochhar, in connection with a petition filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The petition challenges the Bombay High Court’s judgment that declared their arrest “illegal.”
A bench comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Sanjay Kumar has sought responses to the appeal filed by the CBI. Earlier in February, the Bombay High Court had upheld the interim bail granted to former ICICI Bank director Chanda Kochhar and her husband, businessman Deepak Kochhar.
The Bombay High Court upheld the interim bail order and said the CBI’s arrest of the couple in connection with an alleged credit fraud was “routine, without application of reason and an abuse of power”. The court also termed the action as “casual, mechanical and perfunctory”.
What is the case of ICICI Bank-Videocon loan?
Chanda Kochhar, former MD and CEO of ICICI Bank, and her husband Deepak Kochhar were arrested by the CBI on December 23, 2022, in connection with the ICICI Bank-Videocon loan fraud case.
The CBI had launched a preliminary investigation in 2017 and registered a First Information Report (FIR) in 2019. According to the CBI, ICICI Bank approved loans worth Rs 1,875 crore to companies in the Videocon Group. The CBI alleges that loans totalling Rs 300 crore were approved in 2009, when Chanda Kochhar was in charge of the sanctions committee.
The CBI has charged Chanda Kochhar with accepting illegal bribes, alleging that the day after the loan was sanctioned, Videocon Group promoter VN Dhoot invested Rs 64 crore in Nupower Renewables (NRL), a company run by Chanda Kochhar’s husband Deepak Kochhar, as part of a quid pro quo arrangement.
The Kochhars were granted bail in January 2023.
First published: September 6, 2024 | 1:28 PM IS
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