ICICI Bank loan fraud case: Chanda Kochhar, Deepak & Venugopal Dhoot sent to judicial custody till Jan 10

Loan fraud case: Chanda Kochhar, former ICICI Bank MD and CEO, her husband Deepak Kochhar, and Videocon Group Chairman Venugopal Dhoot were sent to judicial custody till January 10 as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) did not seek their further custody for interrogation in the bank fraud case. The CBI on Thursday said the trio can be sent to judicial custody for 14 days.  

On Wednesday, a special court extended their CBI custody until today. Last week, the CBI arrested Kochhars after questioning them briefly in the loan case, which surfaced in 2018. Dhoot was arrested on Monday. All three were produced before special judge S M Menjoge at the end of their earlier remand on Wednesday. 

The CBI, represented by special public prosecutor A Limosin, sought their custody for another two days for further probe into the case. 

The case 

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 Indian Penal Code sections related to criminal conspiracy and provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act in 2019. 

The CBI said Videocon promoter Venugopal Dhoot allegedly invested crores in NuPower Renewable, where Chanda Kochhar’s husband Deepak had a 50 per cent stake. The investment was done after the Videocon Group got Rs 3,250 crore as a loan from ICICI Bank in 2012, which was sanctioned by Chanda.  

But eventually, the disbursed loan turned into a Non-Performing Asset (NPA), and was later marked as a 'bank fraud'. In October 2018, Chanda Kochhar, now 59, stepped down as the CEO and MD of the bank, and charges were put that she “favoured Videocon Group” for the loan, a consumer electronics and oil and gas exploration company.   

CBI’s allegations 

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.  

CBI had before said that Chanda Kochhar was not cooperating with the investigation, and giving evasive replies. She denied the knowledge of any pecuniary transactions between her husband and Dhoot. The CBI also accused Deepak Kochhar of concealing vital facts and not cooperating with the investigation.