The Central Bureau of Investigation on Friday arrested former ICICI Bank Chief Executive Officer Chanda Kochhar and her husband Deepak Kochhar in a fraud case involving the bank and the Videocon Group, NDTV reported.
On Saturday, a special CBI court in Mumbai remanded both of them to the agency’s custody for three days, according to ANI.
Chanda Kochhar had resigned from her post in October 2018 after questions were raised about a Rs 3,250-crore loan that the bank had given the Videocon group in 2012. After she was found guilty, the banks said that her resignation would be treated as “termination for cause”.
Six months after the loan was sanctioned, Videocon Group’s Managing Director Venugopal Dhoot allegedly provided crores of rupees to NuPower, a firm controlled by Deepak Kochhar.
In 2019, the Central Bureau of Investigation had filed a case against Chanda Kochhar, Deepak Kochhar, and Dhoot.
A case of money laundering was also filed against them in 2019 by the Enforcement Directorate. The central agency has also been investigating at least two other instances of loans by ICICI Bank during Kochhar’s term. One of them was given to Gujarat-based pharmaceutical firm Sterling Biotech and another to Bhushan Steel Group.
Deepak Kochhar was arrested in the matter in September 2020 by the Enforcement Directorate. He was granted bail in March 2021.
Chanda Kochhar was granted bail in February 2021.
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