ED arrests Deepak Kochhar in connection with ICICI-Videocon case

The Enforcement Directorate on Monday arrested Deepak Kochhar, the husband of former ICICI Bank CEO Chanda Kochhar, in connection with alleged irregularities and corrupt practices in the sanctioning of Rs 1,875 crore of loans by ICICI Bank.

On January 31, the ED had lodged a money laundering case against both Chanda and Deepak Kochhar, as well as against Videocon Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) Venugopal Dhoot, in relation to the ICICI Bank-Videocon money laundering case.

The CBI had earlier alleged that Chanda sanction loans to private companies in a criminal conspiracy to cheat ICICI Bank. In a preliminary enquiry, it had found that six loans worth Rs 1,875 crore were sanctioned to the Videocon Group and companies associated with it beween June, 2009 and October, 2011, in alleged violation of ICICI bank’s laid-down policies—these loans were later declared NPAs in 2012.

In its FIR, on which base the ED conducted raids in April, it named Chanda and Deeepak Kocchar, Dhoot and Dhoot’s companies—Videocon International Electronics Ltd (VIEL) and Videocon Industries Limited (VIL)—as well as Supreme Energy, a company founded by Dhoot, and NuPower Renewables, a company controlled by Deepak Kochhar.

With inputs from PTI