The Bombay High Court granted the release of former ICICI CEO Chanda Kochhar and her husband Deepak Kochhar, who was accused of a multi-billion-dollar money-laundering scheme.
The court ruled that the Kochhars’ arrest was “not in accordance with the law,” and thus released them from judicial custody on a cash bail of Rs 1 lakh each.
The Central Bureau of Investigation which arrested the couple on December 23, 2022, in the Videocon-ICICI loan scam case, opposed the release. 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.
What is the case about?
The CBI had registered cases against the Kochhars and Venugopal Dhoot, along with companies Nupower Renewables, Supreme Energy, Videocon International Electronics Ltd, and Videocon Industries Limited. They were accused of criminal conspiracy and corruption.
The central investigation agency claimed that Dhoot, the Videocon promoter, allegedly invested crores of rupees in Nupower, months after the Videocon Group got Rs 3,250 crore as a loan from ICICI Bank in 2012.
It was alleged that the Kochhars sanctioned certain loans to private companies in a criminal conspiracy with others to cheat ICICI Bank, the CBI had said in a statement after filing the First Information Report (FIR) in 2019.