Former ICICI Bank CEO Chanda Kochhar came out of jail, Bombay High Court had given bail

Former Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of ICICI Bank Chanda Kochhar has been released from jail. The Bombay High Court on Monday granted bail to Chanda Kochhar and her husband Deepak Kochhar in a loan fraud case. The court found that his arrest was not done in accordance with the provisions of the law. Justice Revathi Mohite Dere and Justice P.K. A division bench of Chavan had said that the Kochhar couple's arrest was in violation of Section 41A of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), under which it is mandatory to send a notice to appear before the police officer concerned. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested the Kochhar couple on 23 December 2022 in the Videocon-ICICI 2022 loan fraud case. He was in judicial custody. Apart from the Kochhars, the CBI has also arrested Videocon founder Venugopal Dhoot in the case and he is also in judicial custody.

The CBI has named the Kochhars, Nupower Renewables (NRL) run by Deepak Kochhar, Supreme Energy, Videocon International Electronics Limited and Videocon Industries Limited under sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Prevention of Corruption Act, 2019 as accused in the FIR.

The agency alleges that ICICI Bank had sanctioned credit facilities of Rs 3,250 crore to Videocon group companies promoted by Videocon founder Venugopal Dhoot in violation of the Banking Regulation Act, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) guidelines and the bank's lending policy . According to the FIR, in lieu of this approval, Dhoot invested Rs 64 crore in NuPower Renewables through Supreme Energy Private Limited (SEPL) and fraudulently transferred SEPL to Pinnacle Energy Trust between 2010 and 2012. The management of Pinnacle Energy Trust and NRL was with Deepak Kochhar.