CBI gets 3-day custody of Videocon chairman Venugopal Dhoot in loan fraud case

The CBI advocate claimed that they sought custody as they want to confront 'all' of them.

New Delhi, Dec 26: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has got 3-day custody of Videocon chairman Venugopal Dhoot, former MD and CEO of ICICI bank Chanda Kochhar and Deepak Kochhar in connection with the ICICI bank-Videocon loan fraud case.

The CBI advocate said they have sought custody as they want to confront 'all' of them. Earlier in the day, Dhoot was arrested by the CBI. It comes three days after the arrest of former ICICI Bank managing director, Chanda Kochhar's arrest. Her husband Deepika Kochhar too was arrested in connection with the same case.

Dhoot had been questioned several times over the past four years and was today arrested on the basis of documentary evidence, in which it was shown that he had allegedly bribed the Kochhars for availing loans at the private bank. The Kochhars are being questioned since their arrest on Friday. Chanda Kochhar stepped down as the Managing Director in October 2018 after allegations of irregularities surfaced.

In the First Information Report (FIR) filed in January 2019, the CBI alleged that there were irregularities in six high value loans worth Rs 1,875 crore disbursed to Videocon Group between June 2009 and October 2011.

The CBI claimed that the Kochhars allegedly got Rs 64 crore bribe from Dhoot a day before the bank disbursed a loan of Rs 300 crore to Videocon International Electronics Ltd in August 2009.

According to a PTI report, the CBI had taken into custody Chanda Kochhar and her husband Deepak alleging that they were not cooperating with the investigation, and giving evasive replies. Chanda Kochhar has denied knowledge of any pecuniary transactions between her husband and Dhoot, the agency had claimed during remand proceedings at a CBI Special Court in Mumbai on December 24. Senior advocate Amit Desai, appearing for the Kochhars, had opposed the remand, saying the "main borrower of the loan has not been arrested, and the present accused were not the beneficiary of any amount.

Desai had also brought to the court's notice a letter written by the ICICI Bank to the CBI in July 202I stating that there was no wrongful loss to it in any of the transactions under question.

The CBI had named the Kochhars and Dhoot, along with companies Nupower Renewables (NRL) managed by Deepak Kochhar, Supreme Energy, Videocon International Electronics Ltd, and Videocon Industries Limited, as accused in the FIR registered under IPC sections related to criminal conspiracy and provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act in 2019, they said.

The CBI had alleged that ICICI Bank had sanctioned credit facilities to the tune of Rs 3,250 crore to the companies of Videocon Group promoted by Dhoot in violation of the Banking Regulation Act, RBI guidelines, and credit policy of the bank.

It was also alleged that as a part of the quid pro quo, Dhoot made an investment of Rs 64 crore in Nupower Renewables through Supreme Energy Pvt Ltd (SEPL) and transferred SEPL to Pinnacle Energy Trust managed by Deepak Kochhar through a circuitous route between 2010 and 2012.