Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Friday granted interim bail to Videocon Group founder Venugopal Dhoot, nearly a month after he was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the ICICI Bank-Videocon loan fraud case. A division bench of Justices Revati Mohite Dere and PK Chavan granted bail to Dhoot on a surety of Rs one lakh. The court allowed him to furnish cash bail and thereafter deposit the surety amount after two weeks.
The bench also rejected the CBI’s request for a stay on its order so that it can approach the Supreme Court in appeal. The court also rejected an application filed by a lawyer to intervene in the matter and withdraw its earlier order granting bail to two other accused in the case – Chanda Kochhar, former managing director and chief executive officer of ICICI Bank. . and her husband Deepak Kochhar.
The bench imposed a fine of Rs 25,000 on the advocate. Dhoot had approached the high court on January 10, when the same bench had granted bail to Kochhar. The couple was arrested on December 23, 2022. Dhoot’s lawyer Sandeep Ladda had argued that Dhoot’s arrest was unwarranted as he had cooperated with the investigation. However, the CBI opposed this, saying that the founder of the Videocon group had tried to evade the probe and hence the arrest was legal. The HC heard the arguments and closed it for orders on January 13.
Dhoot, currently in judicial custody, had moved the HC seeking quashing of the CBI FIR and release on bail through an interim order. In his petition, Dhoot termed his arrest by the CBI as “arbitrary, illegal, without following due process of law and in gross violation of Section 41(A) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which mandates issuance of notice to the accused. mandatory.” to join the investigation and make arrests only when necessary”. In its order granting interim bail to Kochhar, the HC came down hard on the CBI for making arrests in a “casual and mechanical” manner and without application of mind Was.
The CBI has alleged that private sector lender ICICI Bank had sanctioned a loan facility of Rs 3,250 crore to Videocon group companies promoted by Dhoot in violation of the Banking Regulation Act, RBI guidelines and the bank’s credit policy. , The CBI has named Chanda Kochhar, Deepak Kochhar as well as Dhoot as well as Nupower Renewables (NRL) managed by Deepak Kochhar, Supreme Energy, Videocon International Electronics Limited and Videocon Industries Limited in the FIR registered in 2019 under sections of the Indian Penal Code. The accused was made For the provisions of Criminal Conspiracy and Prevention of Corruption Act.
The central agency has alleged that ICICI Bank sanctioned credit facilities worth Rs 3,250 crore to these companies in violation of norms. It further alleged that in retaliation, Dhoot invested Rs 64 crore in Nupower Renewables through Supreme Energy Pvt Ltd (SEPL) and transferred SEPL to Pinnacle Energy Trust managed by Deepak Kochhar in tortuous ways between 2010 and 2010. transferred from 2012.