CBI Arrests Chairman Of The Videocon

[Jeewan Singh]

Along with the former Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of ICICI Bank, Chanda Kochhar, and her husband, Deepak, the Chairman of the Videocon company, Venugopal Dhoot, was taken into custody by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and will remain there till December 28.

According to sources, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had earlier on Monday detained Dhoot from Mumbai in connection with allegations of cheating and irregularities in loans sanctioned by ICICI Bank to firms in the Videocon Group. The Kochhars were taken into custody by the CBI on Friday on suspicion of defrauding the bank of Rs 1,730 crore till March 2012.

After it was first reported by The Indian Express on March 29, 2018, that Venugopal Dhoot provided crores of rupees to a firm he had set up with Deepak Kochhar and two relatives six months after his firm got Rs 3,250 crore as a loan from ICICI Bank in 2012, the bank and Chanda Kochhar have been subject to regulatory scrutiny.

In 2019, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed a First Information Report (FIR) against the Kochhar family, Dhoot, and many companies, including Nupower Renewables and Videocon Industries, for allegedly defrauding ICICI Bank of Rs 1,730 crore. In its first information report (FIR), the CBI named Supreme Energy Pvt Ltd, Videocon International Electronics Ltd (VIEL), and unidentified public officers as accused partiesnd Videocon Industries, for allegedly defrauding ICICI Bank of Rs 1,730 crore. In its first information report (FIR), the CBI named Supreme Energy Pvt Ltd, Videocon International Electronics Ltd (VIEL), and unidentified public officers as accused parties. It was said there was an allegation that "the accused (Chanda Kochhar) sanctioned various loans to private entities in a criminal conspiracy with other accused to deceive ICICI Bank." Several articles of the Indian Penal Code and the Prevention of Corruption Act were cited in the complaint that was submitted.

According to the CBI, the amount in question was a component of the Rs 40,000 crore loan that the Videocon Group obtained from a group of 20 banks headed by the SBI. A loan in the amount of Rs 3,250 crore had not been repaid, leaving an outstanding balance of Rs 2,810 crore. In 2017, the Videocon account was declared an NPA, which stands for non-performing asset.

According to the CBI, on August 26, 2009, the sanctioning committee of ICICI Bank, which included Chanda Kochhar, approved a loan of Rs 300 crore to VIEL "in defiance of the rules and policy." This was done despite the fact that the rules and policy had not been followed.

The CBI alleges that Chanda Kochhar "dishonestly" abused her official position to disburse this loan on September 7, 2008. The very next day, her husband's firm, Nupower Renewables, received Rs 64 crore from Videocon Industries Ltd. (VIL) to acquire its first power plant. The agency also alleges that Chanda Kochhar received "illegal gratification" or "undue benefit" through her husband from Dhoot for sanctioning an RTL (rupee term loan).