The Delhi High Court on Thursday declined plea of Deepak Virendra Kochhar, the husband of former ICICI Bank CEO Chanda Kochhar, seeking to be transferred to a private hospital in the Capital or in Gurugram for treatment as he has tested positive for COVID-19.
Justice A.J. Bhambhani said Mr. Kochhar was presently in the judicial custody of a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Mumbai and hence, the High Court cannot shuffle him from one place to another.
Mr. Kochhar is currently admitted at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) run by AIIMS at Jhajjar in Haryana. He had sought to be shifted to a private hospital in Delhi or Gurugram at his expense.
Mr. Kochhar was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on September 7 under provisions of the PMLA in connection with the ICICI Bank-Videocon money laundering case.
The agency said it has no objection to him being moved to a private hospital for treatment at his expense, but said that he was presently in the judicial custody of the Mumbai court. The ED said any order to move him to another hospital has to come from the Mumbai court.
Advocate Vijay Aggarwal, representing Mr. Kochhar, said that his client was infected by COVID-19 as he was locked up in a police cell at Chanakyapuri police station. Mr. Aggarwal later said he will withdraw the petition in view of the ED stand that it was not opposed to his client being shifted to a private hospital.
