ICICI Bank Loan Fraud Case: Court Extends 2-Day CBI Custody Of Chanda Kochhar, Deepak Kochhar, Venugopal Dhoot

The Kochhars and Dhoot, who were arrested on Saturday and Monday respectively, are currently in the CBI custody

Chanda Kochhar and her husband Deepak Kochhar.

Source : Getty

A court in Mumbai on Wednesday gives two days CBI custody of Chanda Kochhar, Deepak Kochhar, and Venugopal Dhoot in the ICICI bank-Videocon loan fraud case. News agency ANI has tweeted this development.

#UPDATE | ICICI bank-Videocon loan fraud case: CBI Court gives 2 days custody of Chanda Kochhar, Deepak Kochhar and Venugopal Dhoot to CBI.

— ANI (@ANI) December 28, 2022

The Kochhars and Dhoot, who were arrested on Saturday and Monday respectively, are currently in the CBI custody.

The Kochhar couple was nabbed on December 24 in New Delhi by the CBI, Dhoot was arrested on December 26 and remanded by a Mumbai Special CBI Judge AS Sayyad to the agency's custody till Wednesday.

The sensational arrests came in connection with the alleged cheating and irregularities in a Rs 3,250 crore ICICI Bank loan extended to Videocon Group in 2012, which became a non performing asset by 2017.

A whistle-blower, who brought the case to fore later saw Chanda being charged with misusing her official position, favouritism, etc., as an alleged quid pro quo deal which benefited her family.

The CBI has alleged that ICICI Bank sanctioned credit facilities to the tune of Rs 3,250 crore to the companies of Videocon Group promoted by Venugopal Dhoot in violation of the Banking Regulation Act, RBI guidelines and the credit policy of the bank. The probing agency also applied to the court seeking permission to invoke the charge of 'criminal breach of trust' under the Indian Penal Code against them.

According to reports, Chanda Kochhar (59) resigned as CEO and MD of ICICI Bank in October 2018 over allegations that she had favoured Videocon Group, a consumer electronics and oil and gas exploration company, in the bank's lending practices. It is alleged that Dhoot had reportedly invested crores of rupees in NuPower Renewables months after the Videocon Group got Rs 3,250 crore as a loan from ICICI Bank in 2012, CBI said.

The CBI, after filing the FIR in 2019, in a statement said that the accused had sanctioned certain loans to private companies in a criminal conspiracy with others to cheat ICICI Bank.