The Bombay High Court on Monday allowed release to former ICICI CEO Chanda Kochhar and husband Deepak Kochhar from judicial custody after CBI arrest in Videocon loan case.
The Bombay High Court on 6 January reserved the order on the pleas of Chanda and Deepak Kochhar challenging their arrest and seeking an interim release.
Senior Advocate Amit Desai today appeared for Chanda Kochhar and said that Chanda had voluntarily sent an email to CBI saying that she is willing to come and explain everything on November 1 last year. She didn’t get any response for one week. Then she called the CBI officer and asked when she can come and explain the matter. Nothing happened in the case in 2019, 2020 and 2021, he added
Amit Desai further argued that Chanda received a notice in June asking her to appear in July in 2022.
“She wrote to CBI seeking postponement of the date of appearance, CBI agreed. So there’s wasn’t any non-cooperation from her side, he added
There was a silence for next 5 months and then CBI directly asked the couple to appear in Dec 2022. On December 23, perfunctory interrogation and the couple was arrested,” he said.
“If CBI didn’t feel the need to arrest till December 2022, what prompted them to make the arrest now? Section 41a of CrPC says that if a person continues to comply with the terms of a notice issued by the agency under this section, the person shall not be arrested. Important question is if 41a was complied with. Everyone has to be careful if this is a whimsical and arbitrary arrest and not necessary,” he added.
The case is related to alleged irregularities and corrupt practices in the sanction of a Rs 1,875 crore loan disbursed by ICICI Bank to the Videocon Group between 2009 and 2011.
During its preliminary inquiry, the CBI found that six loans worth Rs 1,875 crore were sanctioned to the Videocon Group and companies associated with it between June 2009 and October 2011, in an alleged violation of the laid-down policies of ICICI Bank.
The agency claimed the loans were declared non-performing assets in 2012, causing a loss of Rs 1,730 crore to the bank.
