Videocon loan case: Kochhars and Dhoot sent to 14-day judicial custody

Chanda and Deepak Kochhar outside the special CBI court on Monday. File pic/Ashish Raje

The special CBI court on Thursday remanded former ICICI Bank MD and CEO Chanda Kochhar, her husband Deepak Kochhar, and Videocon Group Chairman Venugopal Dhoot in 14-day judicial custody till January 10. All three were arrested in connection with the ongoing probe into the ICICI Bank loan fraud case which caused wrongful loss to the tune of Rs 1,730 crore to the bank.

The Central Bureau of Investigation arrested the Kochhars on December 23 and Dhoot on December 26. The agency has interrogated all three arrested accused to unearth the criminal conspiracy and said that they suspect the involvement of some public and private servants in the fraud that took place during Kochhar's tenure as the bank's managing director.

Also Read: Videocon loan case: The Rise and Fall of Venugopal Dhoot

CBI sleuths have questioned Chanda Kochhar about the Rs 64-crore kickback that her husband's firm allegedly received from Videocon Group a day after it secured a Rs 300-crore loan from the bank. Officers said they did not get a satisfactory answer. Kochhar has claimed that she never interfered with her husband's business and she was not aware of the transaction. She also added that the money was a genuine investment by the Videocon Group.

The CBI is now expected to file a charge sheet in the FIR which was registered in January 2019. After the court proceedings, Kochhar was taken to Byculla jail while her husband and Dhoot were taken to Arthur Road jail.