Chanda Kochhar gets bail in Videocon case

Chanda Kochhar, her husband Deepak, Videocon Group promoter Venugopal Dhoot are accused of money laundering

Former ICICI Bank CEO and MD Chanda Kochhar on Friday appeared before a court in the alleged ICICI Bank-Videocon money laundering case, and was granted bail. It was the former banker's first appearance in the court.

On January 30, the special court for Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) had summoned Chanda Kochhar, her husband Deepak, Videocon Group promoter Venugopal Dhoot and other accused after taking cognizance of the charge sheet. Chanda Kochhar accordingly appeared before the special Judge A A Nandgaonkar.

Her lawyers Vijay Agarwal and Rahul Agarwal sought bail for her, arguing that she had been cooperating with the Enforcement Directorate's probe and had visited the ED office in Delhi whenever summoned. The Central agency has never arrested her in the case, they pointed out.

The judge granted her bail on a bond of Rs 5 lakh and directed her to report to the ED office whenever needed and not leave India without court's permission. The court also told her to surrender her passport to ED immediately.

"The applicant shall not tamper with the evidence or attempt to influence or contact the complainant, witnesses or any person concerned with the case," the order said.

Deepak Kochhar, who is currently in judicial custody, was also produced before the court. Dhoot's lawyers said was not present as he had not received the summons.

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