ICICI bank former chief executive officer and managing director Chanda Kochhar and her husband Deepak were released from jail on Tuesday in the Videocon bank fraud case.
The couple was released a day after the Bombay High Court held, “The arrest is not in accordance with law.” They were arrested on December 23, 2022 and were sent to judicial custody on December 29, 2022. Ms. Kochhar was released from Byculla jail and her husband Mr. Kochhar from Arthur Road Jail.
On January 8, a division Bench of Justices Revati Mohitedere and P.K. Chavan said, “There was non-compliance of the mandate of Section 41A (notice of appearance before police officer), Section 41B (procedure of arrest and duties of officer making arrest) and Section 60A (arrest to be made strictly according to the Code) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) will enure to the benefit of the petitioners, warranting their release on bail. The ground for arrest of the petitioners mentioned in the arrest memos is in clear breach of the mandatory provisions of sections mentioned above,” the court added.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had filed a First Information Report in the case on January 22, 2019, under Section 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property and Section 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act. The CBI has alleged that ICICI bank under the leadership of Ms. Kochhar sanctioned a credit of ₹3,250 crore to companies owned by the Videocon Group, which are in direct violation to The Banking Regulation Act, guidelines by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the credit policies of banks.
