The Bombay High Court on Monday passed an interim order to release Chanda Kochhar (Former MD and CEO of ICICI Bank) and her husband Deepak Kochhar in the Videocon loan case.
The arrest was in violation of Section 41A of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) which mandates sending notice for an appearance before the concerned police officer.
The Court Directed:
“According to the facts the petitioners arrest is not in accordance with law and Section 41A of CrPC,”.
Senior Advocate Amit Desai and Advocate Kushal Mor submitted:
- That Deepa Kochar was arrested without complying with Section 46(4) of the Code of Criminal Procedure as there had been no presence of a female police officer during her arrest.
- In the connected money laundering case, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had made a statement before the Supreme Court that they did not require Chanda’s custody in the case.
- The former CEO co-operated with the ED, which recorded 14 statements under Section 50 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA),
- She had co-operated with every summons issued to her by CBI which proved there was no non-co-operation from her end.
Senior Advocate Vikram Chaudhari, appearing for Deepak Kochar, informed the Court that:
- Deepak was granted bail in PMLA case in March 2021.
- Those proceedings had been stayed by the trial court. He had been co-operating with the investigation too.
Senior Advocate Raja Thakare, appearing for CBI, had vehemently denied any violation of statutory or constitutional provisions during arrest of the Kochhars.
And submitted:
- Agency’s arrest was to get clarity and sequentially explain all related transactions through the confrontation of the accused.
In this matter, it is alleged that during her tenure at ICICI Bank, cleared a loan of ₹3,250 crore for Videocon Group of Companies and later Deepak Kochar’s company Nu Renewable allegedly received investment from Videocon. That loan later turned into an NPA. The special CBI court remanded them to judicial custody on December 29.
Read Order Here: