New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered a case against former ICICI bank boss Chanda Kochhar, her husband Deepak Kochhar and Venugopal Dhoot, the head of the Videocon Group.
The FIR has been slapped in connection with the alleged irregularities in the Rs 3,250 crore ICICI Bank-Videocon loan case. According to sources, the investigative agencies also carried out searches of the Videocon group headquarters in Mumbai and its offices in Aurangabad.
“CBI has registered a case against Smt Chanda Kochhar, the-then MD and CEO of ICICI Bank, Sh Deepak Kochhar, MD of M/s Nupower Renewables Ltd, M/s Supreme Energy Pvt Ltd, M/s. Videocon International Electronics Ltd, M/s. Videocon Industries Ltd and others under Section 120-B r/w 420 IPC read with Section 7, Section 132 r/w 13(1)(d) of PC Act, 1988,” an agency statement read on Thursday afternoon.
“It was alleged that the accused sanctioned certain loans to private companies in a criminal conspiracy with other accused to cheat ICICI Bank,” it added.
The search operation started on Thursday morning and also covered offices of Nupower, a company operated by Deepak Kochhar and Supreme Energy, they said.
As The Wire has extensively reported and analysed, a spotlight has fallen on the manner in which Dhoot allegedly invested crores of rupees in Nupower months after the Videocon group got Rs 3,250 crore as loan from the ICICI Bank in 2012.
The agency had registered a preliminary enquiry against Videocon promoter Venugopal Dhoot, Deepak Kochhar and unidentified others in March last year, they said.
A PE is a precursor before the agency lodges an FIR to probe criminal charges on the basis of evidence collected during the former exercise.
The agency has now converted it into an FIR, meaning a full blown investigation has begun after the registration of a case.