Videocon loan fraud case: SC issues notices to former ICICI Bank CEO Chanda Kochhar, husband over CBI's plea against Bombay HC's bail order
New Delhi: The Supreme Court of India issued a notice on Friday to former ICICI Bank Managing Director and CEO Chanda Kochhar, and her husband, Deepak Kochhar, in response to a plea by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) challenging a Bombay High Court order that had declared their arrest "illegal", media reports said.
A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Sanjay Kumar requested responses from the Kochhars regarding the appeal filed by the CBI, The Economic Time reported.
In February, the Bombay High Court upheld the interim bail granted to Chanda Kochhar and her husband Deepak, a businessman, after ruling that their arrest by the CBI in connection with an alleged loan fraud case was "routine, without application of mind, and an abuse of power."
The court described the arrest as casual, mechanical, and perfunctory.
The CBI registered a case in 2019 against the Kochhars, Videocon Group promoter Venugopal Dhoot, and several companies, alleging that ICICI Bank had sanctioned a loan of Rs 1,875 crore to the financially troubled Videocon Group between June 2009 and April 2012.
Following this, the Kochhars were arrested in 2022 and later granted interim bail by the Bombay High Court in January 2023.
The CBI's chargesheet alleges two instances of bribery: an investment of Rs 64 crore by Dhoot in Deepak Kochhar's company, NuPower Renewables Pvt. Ltd. (NRPL), through Supreme Energy Private Limited (SEPL) 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.
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