The Supreme Court on Monday sought response of former ICICI Bank CEO-cum-MD Chanda Kochhar and her businessman husband Deepak Kochhar on a plea of the CBI challenging the interim bail granted to them by Bombay High Court in a loan fraud case.
A bench comprising of Justices Aniruddha Bose and Bela M Trivedi issued notice on the plea of the CBI and sought the response of the couple in 3 weeks.
Additional Solicitor General SV Raju, appearing for the CBI, stated the high court proceeded on a wrong presumption that offence is punishable with maximum of 7 years imprisonment without considering section 409 of IPC (criminal breach of trust by public servant) which entails sentence from 10 years to life imprisonment.
The bench asked Raju how section 409 of the IPC come into play when it was a private bank. Raju replied that the bank may be private but it involves public money.
The bench said it is issuing notice and seeking their reply in 3 weeks.
Kochhars approached the High Court challenging their arrest and said it was illegal and arbitrary. They sought their release from jail on bail by way of an interim order.
The High Court stated the Kochhars’ arrest wasn’t in accordance with the provisions of law and they were entitled to be released on bail.
Apart from the Kochhar couple, CBI also arrested Videocon group founder Venugopal Dhoot in the case.
The CBI registered a case against the Kochhar couple, Videocon Group promoter Venugopal Dhoot, and others for allegedly causing loss to the ICICI Bank by sanctioning loans to the Videocon Group of companies in contravention of the bank’s policies.
The central agency alleged that ICICI Bank sanctioned credit facilities to the tune of Rs 3,250 crore to the companies of the Videocon group in violation of the Banking Regulation Act, Reserve Bank of India’s guidelines and credit policy of the top private lender.
Chanda Kochhar was ICICI Bank CEO and MD from 2009 – 2018.
Previously on January 9, the high court pulled up the CBI for arresting the couple in a “casual and mechanical” manner and “clearly without application of mind” in the loan fraud case and granted them interim bail.
On December 23, 2022, the CBI arrested the Kochhars in connection with the Videocon-ICICI Bank loan fraud case.
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