A special CBI court on Saturday remanded former managing director (MD) and chief executive officer (CEO) of ICICI Bank Chanda Kochhar and her husband Deepak Kochhar to the CBI custody till Monday. The CBI arrested the couple on Friday in connection with alleged cheating and irregularities in loans sanctioned by the bank to Videocon Group companies.
Chanda and Deepak Kochhar were produced before the special court of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for carrying forward remand proceedings. The CBI lawyer in the court said they have arrested accused number four and five, as per the FIR registered with them.
Kochhar was accused of misusing her position in the ICICI Bank in granting loans to Videocon group promoter Venugopal Dhoot in 2009 and 2011. Kochhar, her husband and Venugopal Dhoot of the Videocon group were booked by the CBI along with others in a case related to criminal conspiracy. It was alleged that Dhoot invested crores in Nupower Renewables, after receiving the loan from the ICICI Bank.
It was alleged that the accused 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 case in 2019.
Kochhar was earlier arrested by Enforcement Directorate in connection with the same case in 2021. She had to step down from her position in the ICICI Bank in 2018 because of this multi-crore scam, as the investigation began. She had denied all the charges against her and her husband.
In 2019, the ED raided the residences and the offices of Kochhar, her husband and Dhoot. Last month, the ED interrogated Dhoot in connection with the case.
The CBI found six loans worth ₹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 laid-down policies of ICICI Bank, which are part of the probe. The CBI said the loans were declared non-performing assets in 2012, causing a loss of ₹1,730 crore to the bank.