Denies quid pro quo allegations; court extends CBI custody
On Wednesday, the CBI produced the Kochhars and Videocon Group chairman Venugopal Dhoot before the court. File pic
Former ICICI Bank Managing Director and CEO Chanda Kochhar has told the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) that she had never intervened in her husband’s business and had no idea about money transferred by the Videocon Group to her husband’s firm a day after securing a loan from ICICI Bank. She also claimed that it was a genuine investment by the Videocon Group and denied any quid pro quo allegations.
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The special court, meanwhile, extended the CBI’s custody of Chanda Kochhar, her husband Deepak Kochhar and Videocon Group chairman Venugopal Dhoot by a day as the agency claimed that it did not get sufficient time to confront them together. During the interrogation, the CBI questioned the accused about a Rs 64 crore loan that was transferred from Videocon International to Deepak Kochhar's company NuPower Renewables Pvt Ltd (NRL) a day after Videocon received a loan of Rs 300 crore from the ICICI Bank during Chanda Kochhar’s tenure.
According to sources, the agency has confronted Kochhar along with Dhoot and asked if the loan was ever repaid or if there any discussions concerning its repayment took place between them. Kochhar has denied any quid pro quo, as alleged by the CBI, and told the agency that the transfer of Rs 64 crore was a genuine investment by Videocon Group.
Also read: Videocon loan case: The Rise and Fall of Venugopal Dhoot
On Wednesday, the CBI produced the Kochhars and Dhoot before the court, seeking two days’ custody, which was strongly opposed by the accused's lawyers. The CBI told the court that the accused were in court till the end of the day on December 26 after which their lawyers and family members met them. Hence, they didn’t get enough to interrogate them.
Advocate Amit Desai, who appeared for Chanda Kochhar, said that the present and the previous remand application submitted by the CBI is the same and “there is nothing new to seek further custody”. “The prosecution should show some progress to seek remand. The arrest is illegal. The agency has not carried out the proper process of the law under 17(a) of the Prevention of Corruption Act and the 41A of the CrPC.” Desai told court
Dhoot’s lawyer, S S Ladda, also argued on the same lines. Citing that no progress had been made by the investigators, he stated that the agency had stated before that it wanted to confront the accused and was mentioning similar grounds to seek custody. “If any statement is recorded on the basis of this confrontation, it won't be admissible anyway,” Ladda told the court.
After hearing the arguments, the court asked CBI about the progress of its probe. The investigating officer, however, said that this could not be revealed at this stage and submitted the case diary before the court. “We need to confront the accused in light of some new documents and evidence the agency has recovered,” the prosecution lawyer said.
The CBI’s remand application read, “The investigation is at a very crucial stage and further confrontation is required to unearth the criminal conspiracy with other unknown public and private servants in the case.” The Kochhars were arrested last week for allegedly causing a wrongful loss of Rs 1,730 crore to ICICI Bank while Dhoot was held three days later.
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