Bombay High Court, on February 6, held that Chanda Kochhar and her husband Deepak Kochhar's arrest by CBI is illegal. In the detailed order, the court said that the arrest is illegal and amounts to abuse of power by the CBI.
The court said in its order that, "The investigating agency has not been able to demonstrate existence of circumstances or supportive material on the basis of which the decision to arrest was taken. Absence of such circumstances, information or material which is the sine qua non for the decision of arrest reduces the provision to a dead letter and renders the arrest illegal."
Chanda Kochhar, former MD-CEO, ICICI bank, and her husband Deepak Kochhar were arrested by CBI on December 23, 2022, in ICICI-VIDEOCON loan fraud case. CBI initiated a preliminary enquiry in 2017 and filed an FIR in 2019. As per CBI, ICICI bank sanctioned loans worth ₹3,250 crore to companies of the Videocon group. As per CBI, loans worth ₹300 crore were sanctioned in 2009 and Chanda Kochhar was the head of the sanctioning committee. The CBI accused Chanda Kochhar of receiving illegal gratification in return and said that one day after the loan was sanctioned, VN Dhoot invested ₹64 crore to Nupower Renewables (NRL), a company managed by Chanda Kochhar's husband Deepak Kochhar as quid pro quo.
The Kochhar couple was granted bail in January 2023.
Now, in its order, Bombay HC has said that, "The arrest on 23.12.2022 was not on the basis of any additional material discovered in the course of the investigation, but was based on the same material which was within the knowledge of the Investigating Officer at the time of issuance of notice under Section 41A. Such routine arrest without application of mind and due regard to the law amounts to an abuse of power and does not satisfy the requirement of Section 41A(3) Cr.P.C"
In the February 6 order, the bench noted that section 41A of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) was introduced to avoid routine arrests. It cited that this provision restricts the power to arrest when an accused person complies with the notice issued by the police to appear for questioning and mandates that an arrest shall be made only when the police are of the opinion that it is necessary.
The court held that while it was within the domain of the investigating agency to interrogate an accused and to arrive at a subjective satisfaction on the issue, the same was not "wholly immune from judicial reviewability". "The court can consider whether the reasons for deprivation of liberty are rational, reasonable or fanciful," it said.
From June 2022, the Kochhars have been appearing before the CBI as and when notices under section 41A were issued to them, the bench said. The CBI had claimed that the Kochhars were arrested as they were not cooperating with the probe and that their custodial interrogation was required to unearth the entire gamut of conspiracy.
Apart from the Kochhars, the CBI had also arrested Videocon group founder Venugopal Dhoot in the case. The high court granted him bail in January 2023 in its interim order. The probe agency has alleged that private sector lender ICICI Bank had sanctioned credit facilities to the tune of
₹3,250 crore to the companies of
Videocon Group promoted by Dhoot in violation of the Banking Regulation Act, Reserve Bank of India's guidelines, and credit policy of the bank.
The CBI had named the Kochhars, Dhoot along with Nupower Renewables (NRL) managed by Deepak Kochhar, Supreme Energy, Videocon International Electronics Ltd and Videocon Industries Ltd as accused in the FIR registered in 2019 under the Indian Penal Code sections related to criminal conspiracy and provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act. The agency has alleged that the ICICI Bank sanctioned credit facilities to the tune of ₹3,250 crore to these companies in violation of norms.
It further claimed that as a part of quid pro quo, Dhoot made an investment of ₹64 crore in Nupower Renewables through Supreme Energy Pvt Ltd (SEPL) and transferred SEPL to Pinnacle Energy Trust managed by Deepak Kochhar through a circuitous route between 2010 and 2012.
(With inputs from PTI)
First Published: Feb 19, 2024 12:52 PM IST
