Bombay High Court To Pass Order On Kochhars' Plea For Interim Release In ICICI Loan Fraud Case On Monday

The division bench of Justice Revati Mohite Dere and Justice Prithvi Raj Chavan on Friday reserved for orders the plea challenging Kochhars' arrest in the case of alleged irregularities regarding loans granted to Venugopal Dhoot's Videocon Group.

The court made it clear that it is not entertaining Kochhars’ petition because of their son’s wedding. It is purely on the merits of the case (regarding section 41A CrPC), Justice Dere said.

The duo approached the court soon after their arrest last month and alleged that their arrest by CBI in the case of alleged irregularities regarding loans granted to Venugopal Dhoot's Videocon Group was “illegal.”

It is the Kochhars' claim that their arrest was without prior sanction under the Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA) and therefore they have sought setting aside of the remand order. The arrest was also in violation of Section 41A of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) mandating issuance of notice, they said.

Their petition also questions the timing of the arrest as their son's wedding is scheduled in January itself. Kochhars' only son is scheduled to be married on 15th January and functions were to start shortly. This leads to the belief, that to be arrested on the eve of the wedding of her son, after 4 years of the FIR despite the settled law was actuated by malafides, the plea states.

Arguments

Senior Advocate Amit Desai for Chanda Kochhar said that Kochhar was summoned by CBI on July 4, 2022 but couldn't go and finally went on July 8.

On December 23, 2022, the Kochhars were arrested after a perfunctory interrogation, Desai said.

What prompted issuance of notice under Section 41A of the Cr.P.C. five months later on December 15, 2022, and the subsequent arrest, Desai questioned.

Section 41A of the CrPC, provides that a notice of appearance before police officer is required to be given in certain type of offences.

“The law mandates that a person who complies with the notice must not be arrested unless the officer records reasons”, Desai said.

The arrest memo has allegations that Kochhar hasn't been co-operating and disclosing true facts. Desai stated that there are 210 pages of statements and 810 pages of documents given by Kochhar which are admissible against her. Still, the investigating officer is saying there is no cooperation and Kochhars are giving vague replies, Desai added.

Desai argued that Kochhar didn't know what was happening with her husband's business. He also pointed out that the Apex Court refused to interfere with the Bombay HC bail order in the PMLA case.

Desai further said that the officer who arrested Kochhar is a male officer, and the arrest memo doesn't show presence of a lady officer.

Desai submitted that there was no sanction before registering FIR as mandated under section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

Senior Advocate Raja Thakare for the CBI argued that the Kochhars should have made an application before the trial court first.

He argued that the arrest was for proper investigation as Kochhars have been giving evasive answers to investigating officer’s pointed questions. When people are confronted, only then the truth comes out, he added.

Thakare said that Chanda Kochhar was not even touched by a male officer as it is a white-collar crime, and they weren’t handcuffed and taken.

The Case

The CBI began investigating the couple in January 2018 after reports that Videocon's Dhoot paid a firm he had allegedly set up with Deepak and two relatives, six months after his firm got a Rs 3,250 crore loan from ICICI Bank in 2012.

The irregularities were with regard to the grant of six high-value loans worth around Rs 1,575 crore to five firms of the Videocon Group between June 2009 and October 2011. The loans were granted in contravention of the rules and policy of sanctioning committee, the agency has alleged.

These loans were later termed as non-performing assets resulting in wrongful loss to ICICI bank and wrongful gain to the borrowers and accused persons, the CBI said. The total misappropriation is to the tune of Rs.1,730 crore as of April 26, 2012.

After the FIR was registered in 2019, Deepak Kochhar was summoned over eight times and submitted nearly 2500 pages of evidence, according to the petition. Chanda Kochhar has said she was summoned for the first time earlier this year and was arrested soon after she was summoned for the second time.

Senior Advocate Amit Desai, advocate Kushal Mor instructed by Rashmikant and partners represented the petitioner

Case no. – WP(ST)/22494/2022 [Criminal]

Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (Bom) 15

Case Title – Chanda Kochhar v. Central Bureau of Investigation and Anr.

(Compiled by Amisha Shrivastava)