SC Issues Notice to ICICI ex-MD Kochhar, Husband in Rs 3250 Crore Loan Fraud Case
Mumbai: The Supreme Court on Friday issued notice to former ICICI Bank CEO Chanda Kochhar and her husband Deepak Kochhar on a plea filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to cancel their bail in the alleged Rs 3250 crore Videocon loan fraud case.
A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Sanjay Kumar passed the order upon hearing Additional Solicitor General SV Raju (for CBI), who raised objections to the High Court order which declared the Kochhars' arrest "illegal" and called it an "abuse of power". He informed the court that a charge sheet had been filed against the accused, and Chanda Kochhar had been in custody for a short period of only two weeks.
In February this year, the Bombay High Court had upheld the interim bail granted to Chanda and her businessman husband Deepak. It had said that the CBI arrest of the couple in an alleged loan fraud case was 'routine, without application of mind and an abuse of power.' It also opined that it was casual, mechanical and perfunctory.
The notice has been directed to Chanda Kochhar, Deepak Kochhar, and the Maharashtra government. Additionally, the case has been combined with the matter involving Videocon Group chairman Venugopal Dhoot, whose bail is also contested by the CBI.
The Supreme Court ordered that notices be served by all methods, including personal delivery, and has allowed delays in serving these notices.
In a ruling on February 6, the Bombay High Court upheld the interim bail order granted in January last year. The court criticized the arrest made on December 23, 2022, stating that it was based on previously known material and lacked additional supporting evidence.
The High Court viewed this as a misuse of authority and a failure to meet legal requirements for arrest under Section 41A(3) Cr.P.C.
Earlier this year, the Supreme Court had dismissed the CBI’s petition against the Bombay High Court’s January 2023 decision. However, it permitted the CBI to file a new appeal regarding the final decision that affirmed the interim bail for the Kochhars. The allegations against Chanda Kochhar and her husband involve receiving kickbacks during her tenure in exchange for loans to the Videocon group. In 2019, the CBI registered a case against the Kochhars, Videocon Group promoter Venugopal Dhoot and a bunch of companies alleging that the loan of Rs 1,875 crore sanctioned by ICICI bank to financially beleaguered Videocon between June 2009 to April 2012.
Following this, they were arrested in 2022 and were granted interim bail in January 2023 by the Bombay High Court. The agency's chargesheet had asserted two instances of bribery--an investment of Rs 64 crore by Dhoot in Deepak Kochhar's company, NuPower Renewables through Supreme Energy Private Limited and Pinnacle Energy Trust, which was managed by the Kochhars, via a complex route. It is further alleged that a flat owned by the Videocon Group at CCI Chambers was sold to Deepak Kochhar's family trust for Rs 11 lakh, despite its market value being Rs 5.25 crore.
