The Bombay High Court on Monday granted interim bail to ICICI CEO Chanda Kochhar and her husband Deepak Kochhar in the money laundering case. The HC observed that the "arrest was not in accordance with the law."
Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on December 23 last year had arrested the duo in money laundering case involving a loan from ICICI bank and Videocon Group. In 2012, the group had taken a loan of Rs 3,250 crore from the bank.
A division bench of Justices Revati Mohite Dere and P. K. Chavan directed the Kochhars to deposit a cash bail amount of Rs one lakh each with one or more sureties of the same amount, reported PTI.
"We have held that the petitioners' (Kochhars) arrest was not in accordance with provisions of law and this warrants their release," the bench said.
The bench also directed the duo to cooperate with the probe and attend the CBI office as and when summoned. The court also asked Kochhars to surrender their passports to the CBI.
Videocon Group's Venugopal Dhoot was also arrested by the CBI in connection with the fraud case.
FIR was filed against the accused in 2019 under IPC sections related to criminal conspiracy and provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The Kochhars had filed petitions challenging their arrest by the CBI in connection with the loan case. The duo had said in their pleas that the arrest was illegal and arbitary.
--With PTI inputs
