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The Bombay High Court will hear on Tuesday a petition filed by Videocon Group founder Venugopal Dhoot seeking to declare his arrest by the Central Bureau of Investigation in the ICICI-Videocon bank loan fraud case as “arbitrary and illegal” and to be released on bail.
Dhoot’s plea was mentioned by his advocate Sandeep Ladda on Monday afternoon before a division bench of Justices Revati Mohite Dere and P K Chavan, which said it would hear it on Tuesday.
The same bench earlier on Monday granted interim bail to Dhoot’s co-accused in the case - former MD and CEO of ICICI Bank Chanda Kochhar and her husband Deepak Kochhar.
The High Court, in its judgement, came down heavily on the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for making the arrest of Kochhars in a “casual and mechanical” manner and without application of mind.
Dhoot was arrested on December 26, 2022, and is currently in judicial custody.
In his plea, he has sought for the CBI FIR to be quashed and for the probe to be stayed, as well as his release on bail.
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The Kochhars were arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) last Friday. Dhoot was arrested on Monday. The three were produced before special judge S H Gwalani at the end of their earlier remand on ThursdayDhoot has termed his arrest by the CBI as “arbitrary, illegal, done without following due procedure of law and in gross violation of Section 41 (A) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which mandates that a notice has to be issued to the accused to join the probe and to make an arrest only if absolutely necessary”.
According to the CBI, private sector lender 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, Reserve Bank of India’s guidelines, and credit policy of the bank.
The central probe agency had named the Kochhars, Dhoot, Nupower Renewables (NRL) managed by Deepak Kochhar, Supreme Energy, Videocon International Electronics and Videocon Industries as accused in the FIR registered in 2019 under the Indian Penal Code sections related to criminal conspiracy and under provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
According to the CBI, as 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.
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