Money laundering case: Videocon’s Venugopal Dhoot gets bail

The court granted him bail on a personal bond of ₹5 lakh. The court also directed Dhoot to appear before the investigating officer as and when called. He cannot leave the country without the court’s permission

The Special PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act) court on Friday granted bail to Venugopal Dhoot of Videocon Industries Ltd. (VIL) in connection with the ICICI bank case involving a ₹1,875 crore being probed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

Venugopal Dhoot. (File photo)

Dhoot appeared before the special court which had earlier issued summons to him. The court granted him bail on a personal bond of ₹5 lakh. The court also directed Dhoot to appear before the investigating officer as and when called. He cannot leave the country without the court’s permission.

Dhoot, in his application filed through lawyers Sandeep Laddha and Ishani Khanvilkar, cited his deteriorating health amid the pandemic as grounds for his bail plea. He also claimed that neither he nor his family has benefited and all their assets and properties had been given as security to the banks and that he did not hold any asset in India or abroad.

“The applicant, by selling various assets and companies, brought back around ₹20,000 crore and the entire amount was deposited in the escrow account of lead bank towards the loan (repayment),” read his bail plea.

ED’s proceeding is based on a First Information Report (FIR) registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) which initiated an inquiry in 2017 after a whistle-blower alleged that ICICI had sanctioned a credit facility of about ₹3,250 crore to various entities in contravention of its rules and policies.

In its FIR registered in January 2020, CBI alleged that six high-value loans worth ₹1,875 crore were given by ICICI Bank to the Videocon group between 2009 and 2011. It was alleged that in 2009, a credit facility to Videocon was extended in contravention of rules and policy by the sanctioning committee.