Videocon Group Chairman Venugopal Dhoot gets bail in ICICI Bank loan fraud case

The bench also denied the CBI’s request to stay its order so that it may file an appeal with the Supreme Court.

The Bombay High Court granted interim bail to Videocon Group founder Venugopal Dhoot today, over a month after he was detained by the CBI in the ₹3,250 crore ICICI Bank-Videocon loan fraud case. Mr Dhoot was detained in the same case as former ICICI Bank CEO Chanda Kochhar and her husband Deepak Kochhar.

He was granted bail by a division bench of Justices Revati Mohite Dere and PK Chavan on a guarantee of ₹1 lakh. The judge allowed him to post cash bail and then deposit the surety two weeks later. It also denied the CBI’s request for a stay of execution so that the investigation agency may file an appeal with the Supreme Court.

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The court also denied a motion by a lawyer to intervene in the case and to have the bench reverse its earlier ruling granted bail to the Kochhars. The counsel was fined ₹25,000 by the bench.

On January 10, Mr Dhoot petitioned the high court after the same bench granted bail to the Kochhars. On December 23, 2022, the couple was arrested.

Mr Dhoot maintained that his arrest was unjustified because he was assisting with the investigation.

The Central Bureau of Inquiry (CBI) stated that he was attempting to dodge the investigation. On January 13, the High Court heard the arguments and issued an order.

Mr Dhoot had petitioned the High Court for the rejection of the First Information Report as well as temporary bail.

In his plea, Dhoot termed his arrest by CBI as “arbitrary, illegal, done without following due procedure of law and in gross violation of section 41 (A) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which mandates for a notice to be issued to accused to join the probe and to make an arrest only if absolutely necessary”.

In its ruling awarding temporary relief to the Kochhars, the High Court chastised the CBI for making the arrest in a “casual and mechanical” and mindless way.

Chanda Kochhar, 59, resigned as CEO and MD of ICICI Bank in October 2018 over claims that she favoured the Videocon Group, a consumer electronics and oil and gas exploration firm.

The CBI claims that ICICI Bank, a private sector lender, granted credit facilities totaling ₹3,250 crore to Videocon Group entities pushed by Mr Dhoot in contravention of the Banking Regulation Act, Reserve Bank of India instructions, and the bank’s credit policy.

The CBI had named Chanda Kochhar, Deepak Kochhar, and Mr Dhoot as accused in the FIR registered in 2019 under Indian Penal Code sections related to criminal conspiracy and provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, as well as Nupower Renewables (NRL) managed by Deepak Kochhar, Supreme Energy, Videocon International Electronics Ltd, and Videocon Industries Ltd.

It further claimed that as part of the deal, Dhoot invested ₹64 crore in Nupower Renewables through Supreme Energy Pvt Ltd (SEPL) and transferred SEPL to Pinnacle Energy Trust headed by Deepak Kochhar via a convoluted process between 2010 and 2012.