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Journalism of Courage
Just days after the arrest of former MD and CEO of ICICI bank, Chanda Kochhar, and her husband, Deepak Kochhar, Videocon Group Chairman Venugopal Dhoot was arrested on Monday (December 26) by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for his alleged involvement in the ICICI loan fraud case.
The 71-year-old was held after a brief questioning by officials, who said that they will soon file a chargesheet against him and the Kochhars.
Here is a look at the journey of Dhoot, from being a billionaire to landing in prison.
Born on September 30, 1951, Venugopal Dhoot graduated in Electrical Engineering from Pune University and soon joined forces with his father, Nandlal Madhavlal Dhoot, who founded Videocon in 1985. Under Venugopal Dhoot’s leadership, the company quickly established its name in the market and became one of the first brands to introduce colour televisions in the country.
At its peak, Videocon had several manufacturing sites across India and it established plants in foreign countries such as China, Mexico, Poland and Italy. After its success in the electronics sector, the group ventured into the telecommunications, oil and power sectors. In 2015, Forbes magazine pegged Dhoot as the 61st richest person in India and estimated his wealth as around $1.19 billion. The industrialist, who is said to be a cricket fan, even tried to buy the now-defunct Pune team in the Indian Premier League (IPL) in 2010.
However, the group ran into trouble in the mid 2010s, with their financial woes driving an exit from the telecom sector by 2017 and its dominance in the consumer durables sector waning with major international competition entering the fray.
According to the CBI, in order to receive loans for his Videocon group, Dhoot allegedly gave kickbacks to Chanda Kochhar and her family. Through a host of shell companies, he allegedly invested an amount of Rs 64 crore in Deepak Kochhar’s NuPower Renewables, just months after receiving a Rs 3,250 crore loan from the bank, at the time it was headed by Chanda Kochhar, between 2010 and 2012. Most of the amount loaned to Videocon turned into non-performing assets (NPAs).
The agency also alleged that Chanda Kochhar played an instrumental role in granting these loans and abused her official position. Although Kochhar denied all the allegations, she had to resign as the MD and CEO of the ICICI Bank in 2018.
A year later, CBI lodged an FIR against the Kochhars, Dhoot, and firms including Nupower Renewables and Videocon Industries, for allegedly cheating ICICI Bank of Rs 1,730 crore. Filed under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections related to criminal conspiracy and provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, the complaint said, “the accused (Chanda Kochhar) sanctioned certain loans to private companies in a criminal conspiracy with other accused to cheat ICICI Bank”. It also named Supreme Energy Pvt Ltd, Videocon International Electronics Ltd (VIEL) and unknown public servants as accused.
A CBI court has granted the central agency custody of Venugopal Dhoot till December 28 in this matter.
