Chanda Kochhar, husband appear before special CBI court

Chanda Kochhar, former MD and CEO of ICICI Bank, and her husband Deepak Kochhar appeared before a special CBI court in connection with a loan fraud case involving Videocon Group.

MUMBAI: Chanda Kochhar, former MD and CEO of ICICI Bank and her husband Deepak Kochhar on Wednesday appeared before the special CBI court in connection with the loan fraud case involving Videocon Group.

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The special CBI court had on July 12 accepted the charge sheet and issued notice to the Kochhar couple, Videocon group promoter Venugopal Dhoot and his nephew Saurabh and others after the central agency filed charge sheet against them in the case.

Dhoot, however, sought exemption from personal appearance, claiming he was critically ill and hospitalised. Dhoot’s lawyer Sandeep Ladda argued that he is critically ill and is presently hospitalised, hence he cannot appear before the court.

He pleaded that since he is on interim bail granted by the Bombay high court, Dhoot be allowed to appear through video conferencing and move the bail plea. Besides, it was pleaded that if his presence is necessary, he may be allowed to come in an ambulance and wheelchair.

Special public prosecutor for the CBI, however, agreed to exempt Dhoot for the day, but insisted that he should be ordered to physically attend the court on the next date of hearing.

The CBI is investigating irregularities in the grant of ₹1,875 crore in loans to six companies of Videocon Group when Kochhar was at the helm of affairs at the private bank. The loan amount was later reduced to ₹1,730 crore after restructuring, and ₹1,033 crore was still outstanding when an FIR was registered under the Prevention of Corruption Act in January 2019.

The central agency said Chanda Kochhar misused her position to grant loans to Videocon Group firms, which were ineligible for any loans from the bank. Kochhar was on the loan committee when two loans—a rupee term loan (RTL) of ₹300 crore to VIEL and an RTL of ₹750 crore to VIL—were sanctioned, the charge sheet said, adding that in exchange for this, the Kochhars got a kickback of ₹64 crore and a flat in Churchgate in Mumbai.

The agency also claimed that the Kochhars got a flat in CCI Chambers in Churchgate in 2016 for just ₹11 lakh, while her son bought a flat in the same building on the same floor in November 2021 for ₹19.11 crore.