Court dismisses alleged fraud proceedings against Deepak Kochhar, others

MUMBAI: A sessions court has dismissed a complaint seeking to prosecute Deepak Kochhar, husband of former ICICI Bank MD and CEO Chanda Kochhar, and five others for alleged fraud linked to NuPower Wind Farms Pvt Ltd, observing that there was no material evidence to proceed against them

MUMBAI: A sessions court has dismissed a complaint seeking to prosecute Deepak Kochhar, husband of former ICICI Bank MD and CEO Chanda Kochhar, and five others for alleged fraud linked to NuPower Wind Farms Pvt Ltd, observing that there was no material evidence to proceed against them.

Additional sessions judge Gopal Bhansali dismissed the complaint filed by the Deputy Registrar of Companies on Wednesday, citing serious lapses in the prosecution’s case, including its failure to submit crucial findings of the investigating officer, despite the complaint having been filed nearly seven years ago.

The complaint alleged violations of several provisions of the Companies Act, 2013, punishable under Section 447, which deals with fraud. However, the court noted that the prosecution had failed to place on record around 32 pages containing the investigating officer’s findings — a key part of the complaint.

The court also observed that the complaint relied only on statements made by two accused, Sharad Mhatre and Anand Dalwani, employees of another Kochhar family firm who had been appointed directors of NuPower Wind Farms.

“There is no iota of evidence for offence under Section 447 of the Companies Act,” the court observed, adding that the complaint “deserves to be dismissed”.

In a separate order, the court also dismissed a similar complaint filed by the Deputy Registrar of Companies against Deepak Kochhar’s parents, Virendra Kumar and Vinodini Kochhar.

The proceedings against the Kochhars were initiated in April 2019, around two years after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) began probing allegations against Chanda and Deepak Kochhar. The inquiry followed a whistleblower’s complaint alleging that ICICI Bank had sanctioned credit facilities worth around ₹3,250 crore to various entities in violation of its rules and policies.

In an FIR registered in January 2020, the CBI alleged that ICICI Bank had extended six high-value loans totalling ₹1,875 crore to the Videocon Group. It alleged that a credit facility granted to the group in 2009 violated the bank’s rules and policies when Chanda Kochhar was a member of its loan-sanctioning committee.

The CBI further alleged that ₹300 crore was disbursed to Videocon International Electronics Ltd, a Videocon Group company, on September 7, 2009. The following day, ₹64 crore out of the loan amount was allegedly transferred by Videocon Industries Ltd to NuPower Renewables Pvt Ltd.