The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday arrested former ICICI Bank CEO and MD Chanda Kochhar and her husband Deepak Kochhar in connection with alleged cheating and irregularities in loans sanctioned by the bank to the Videocon group in 2012, sources said.
The CBI had booked Chanda, her husband, and Venugopal Dhoot of Videocon Group, along with companies Nupower Renewables, 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.
It is alleged that the accused sanctioned certain loans to private companies in a criminal conspiracy with other accused to cheat the ICICI Bank.
It is alleged that Videocon promoter Dhoot invested crores of rupees in Nupower months after the group received a loan of ₹3,250 crore from ICICI Bank in 2012.
Six months after his group received the ₹3,250 crore loan, Dhoot gave a loan of ₹64 crores to NuPower Renewables, a company founded by Chanda’s husband Deepak.
The CBI had said the money was part of a loan of ₹40,000 crores that Videocon received from a consortium of 20 banks led by the State Bank of India.
The CBI registered a case in January 2019, 10 months after it registered a preliminary inquiry.
Chanda was earlier arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with the same case in 2021. As the investigation into the multi-crore scam began, she was forced to resign from her position at ICICI Bank. She had denied all the charges against her and her husband.
Chanda spent more than three decades working for India’s third-largest lender and rose through the ranks to become one of the most powerful woman bankers.