ICICI Bank-Videocon case: SC pulls up CBI for Chanda Kochhar’s repeated interim bail extension

The Supreme Court on Tuesday questioned the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for not objecting to the repeated extension of the interim bail granted to former ICICI Bank chief Chanda Kochhar. On January 9, the former ICICI Bank CEO and MD, and her businessman husband Deepak Kochhar were granted two-week interim bail by the Bombay High Court. Since then, the wife-husband duo have been on bail.

“This order is of January 9 and interim bail was granted for only two weeks. Why have you not resisted? Why are you permitting it to continue for such a long period? According to us, this plea has become infructuous because the impugned order was for only two weeks. You should have moved an objection there (high court),” a Bench led by Justice Aniruddha Bose asked Additional Solicitor General SV Raju, who represented the CBI.

If the agency was truly aggrieved by the order of bail, it should have resisted all subsequent orders of extension before the high court, the bench further said.

“You should have resisted there instead of coming here. Why are you allowing it to continue till date? This seems to be continuing with your consent,” the apex court told additional solicitor general SV Raju, who appeared for CBI.

Additional Solicitor General Raju said he would request his counterpart in Mumbai to approach the high court by filing an application.

The SC bench then posted CBI’s plea for October 16, asking Raju to seek instruction on what needs to be done when the January 9 order has already been superseded by subsequent orders of extension of bail.

The CBI arrested the Kochhars on December 23, 2022, in connection with the Videocon-ICICI Bank loan fraud case. The agency had also arrested Videocon group founder Venugopal Dhoot in the case.

The CBI had named Chanda Kochhar, who was ICICI Bank CEO and MD from 2009 to 2018, Deepak Kochhar, Dhoot along firms – Nupower Renewables (NRL), Supreme Energy, Videocon International Electronics Ltd and Videocon Industries – as accused in the FIR registered under Indian Penal Code sections related to criminal conspiracy and provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA). Nupower Renewables is managed by Deepak Kochhar.

The CBI has alleged, as a part of quid pro quo, that Videocon group founder 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 couple had moved the HC challenging their arrests and said it as “illegal and arbitrary”. They had sought their release from jail on bail by way of an interim order. The HC had said the Kochhars’ arrest was not in accordance with the provisions of law and they were entitled to be released on bail, pending the hearing and final disposal of their petitions.

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