ICICI Bank-Videocon loan case: Bombay HC refuses to grant urgent hearing to Chanda Kochhar, husband Deepak Kochhar

Chanda Kochhar, former ICICI Bank CEO and Managing Director, and her husband Deepak Kochhar’s request for urgent relief in the ICICI bank loan fraud case was turned down by the Bombay High Court after it refused to grant an urgent hearing in the case.

On Monday, a Mumbai court granted three days of CBI custody to the Kochhars, who were arrested by the probing agency on Friday in a case linked to alleged irregularities in an over Rs 3,000-crore loan provided to the Videocon Group. The couple is now in CBI custody for interrogation.

The High Court vacation bench of justices Madhav Jamdar and SG Chapalgaonkar on Tuesday said that there was “no urgency to hear the case, and added that the couple to approach the court for a regular hearing on January 2.

The couple’s lawyer, advocate Kushal Mor, termed Kochhar’s arrest as illegal and sought an urgent hearing before the vacation bench. He said the arrests were not as per the law as, under the Prevention of Corruption Act, sanction under Section 17A of the Act is mandatory to initiate a probe. He added that the probing agency hasn't got any such sanction to initiate this investigation. He also added that the arrest has been made after four years, which is a violation of section 41A (notice of appearance before police officer) of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

Mor told the vacation bench that there is urgency as the arrest is illegal right from inception. The court in its reply said: “You can seek circulation on January 2 (when the regular court re-opens).”

The case

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

While the Kochhars were arrested on Friday, Dhoot was arrested on Monday by the CBI in the ICICI loan case.

As per the charges leveled by the CBI, Dhoot allegedly invested Rs 64 crore in NuPower Renewables, as a part of the quid pro quo, after his group received a massive loan from the ICICI Bank between 2010 and 2012.

The loan was cleared by a committee, which was headed by Chanda Kochhar. The probing agency has accused Chanda of misusing her official position and “got illegal gratification/undue benefit through her husband from Dhoot for sanctioning Rs 300 crore to Videocon”.

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