ICICI Bank-Videocon case: Bombay HC confirms interim bail granted to Chanda Kochhar, husband

In January last year, a bench led by Justice Revati Mohite-Dere questioned the CBI why its investigation took several years while the FIR was registered in 2019. It also asked the CBI about its conviction rate. The court also granted interim bail to the Kochhars, who were arrested on December 23, 2022, pending their plea and it was extended from time to time.

The court, in the interim order, had held that the Kochhars’ arrests were not in accordance with law and in non-compliance with the mandate of sections 41(1)(b)(ii) (grounds of arrest), section 41A (notice of appearance issued by investigating officer) and section 60A (arrests to be made strictly in accordance with the code) of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), “warranting their release on bail”.

Justice Mohite-Dere’s bench had then held that the reason to arrest the Kochhars’ four years after the investigation began was “not spelt out” in the arrest memos.

Senior advocate Amit Desai, representing Chanda, said she had cooperated with the CBI throughout but that no inquiry took place for over three years until the first half of 2022. He also argued that her arrest was illegal and violated provisions of the CrPC.

Desai pointed out that no female police officer was present at the time of Chanda’s arrest. He said Deepak was an independent businessman and that Chanda Kochhar had not shared anything related to the bank’s affairs with him.

Advocate Kuldeep Patil, for the CBI, argued that the interim order had only considered the arrest memos and not the case diary and remand application, which proved the Kochhars’ non-cooperation with the inquiry. Patil also argued there was no bar on a male police officer arresting a female accused if physical interaction did not occur and the arrest was made in the presence of a female police officer.

Chanda Kochhar’s another petition, challenging sanction granted by ICICI Bank to prosecute her in the CBI case, is pending before the court. The sanction is required under the Prevention of Corruption Act, as a bank employee is deemed to be a public servant.

In May last year, a division bench of the court upheld a single-judge bench’s order that refused interim relief to Chanda Kochhar on a suit seeking entitlements and retirement benefits due to her since her early retirement from the bank on October 4, 2018.

ICICI Bank and Chanda have been under regulatory scrutiny since The Indian Express first reported on March 29, 2018, that Dhoot gave crores of rupees to a firm he had set up with Deepak and two relatives, six months after his company got a Rs 3,250-crore loan from the bank in 2012.