ICICI Bank fraud: Court seeks jail report on Deepak Kochhar’s plea for post-Covid hospitalisation

Kochhar is presently lodged in Taloja Jail after being remanded to judicial custody

The special PMLA court on Tuesday sought a report from the prison authorities of Taloja Jail on a plea by former ICICI Bank managing director Chanda Kochhar’s husband Deepak Kochhar. Deepak Kochhar requested to be shifted to a private hospital for post-Covid-19 care.

Deepak Kochhar. (PTI File)

Kochhar is presently lodged in Taloja Jail after being remanded to judicial custody. He had, last week, approached the special court through his lawyers Vijay Agrawal and Aashul Agrawal and requested to be shifted to a private hospital

In his plea, Kochhar stated that he “suffered from an extremely severe and prolonged bout of Covid-19 lasting more than three weeks, with many additional complications including prolonged and severe infection which has impacted the entire body, including lungs, muscles, joints and immune system.”

“Applicant is still suffering from prolonged effects of Covid infection, has been advised rest for two weeks, and is under medication of various drugs. Going into the jail will not be safe for the health of the Applicant and his life. Covid-19 caused by Sars-CoV-2 is a relatively new disease, with fresh information being known on a dynamic basis about the natural history of the disease, especially in terms of post-recovery. It is submitted that even a mild Covid-19 infection can leave patients sick for months after testing negative,” reads the application.

Kochhar was arrested by ED on September 7 on charges of money laundering. He was later remanded to ED custody till September 19. Meanwhile, Kochchar tested positive for Covid-19 on September 14. Hence his ED custody was suspended and he was sent to judicial custody. Kochhar was discharged on October 13 and was remanded to ED custody. The special court had remanded him to judicial custody on October 17.