New Delhi [India], October 10 (ANI): The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked CBI why it was not objecting to the repeated extension of interim bail granted to former ICICI Bank CEO-cum-MD Chanda Kochhar and her businessman husband Deepak Kochhar in a loan fraud case.
A bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose and Bela M Trivedi told Additional Solicitor General SV Raju, appearing for the CBI, that the accused were granted interim bail in January for two weeks and asked him why the agency not objecting to the repeated extension.
The Bombay High Court on January 9 granted interim bail to Kochhars. It had pulled up the CBI for arresting the couple in a “casual and mechanical” manner and “clearly without application of mind” in the loan fraud case and granted them interim bail.
The CBI arrested the Kochhars on December 23, 2022, in connection with the Videocon-ICICI Bank loan fraud case.
The apex court hearing the appeal of CBI against the interim bail order of the High Court order posted it for hearing on October 16 and asked ASG to seek instruction on what needs to be done.
The apex court told ASG, “This order is of January 9 and interim bail was granted for only two weeks. Why have you not resisted? Why are you permitting it to continue for such a long period? According to us, this plea has become infructuous because the impugned order was for only two weeks. You should have moved an objection there (High Court).”
After the Kochhars approached the High Court challenging their arrest, saying it was illegal and arbitrary.
They had sought their release from jail on bail by way of an interim order.
The High Court had said the Kochhars’ arrest was not in accordance with the provisions of law and they were entitled to be released on bail, pending the hearing and final disposal of their petitions.
Apart from the Kochhar couple, the CBI has also arrested Videocon group founder Venugopal Dhoot in the case.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) registered a case against the Kochhar couple, Videocon Group promoter Venugopal Dhoot, and others for allegedly causing loss to the ICICI Bank by sanctioning loans to the Videocon Group of companies in contravention of the bank’s policies.
The central agency had alleged that ICICI Bank had sanctioned credit facilities to the tune of Rs 3,250 crore to the companies of the Videocon group in violation of the Banking Regulation Act, Reserve Bank of India’s guidelines and credit policy of the top private lender.
Chanda Kochhar was ICICI Bank CEO and MD from 2009 to 2018. (ANI)
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