NEW DELHI: The Bombay High Court on Monday directed the release of former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of ICICI Bank, Chanda Kochhar, her husband Deepak Kochhar in a case related to their alleged involvement in the Videocon loan scam case, while noting that their arrest was illegal for non compliance of Section 41A of the Criminal Procedure Code.
The CBI is likely to approach the top court against the High Court's order.
A division bench of the Bombay High Court --- Justices Revati Mohite Dere and P K Chavan --- ordered release of the Kochhars on bail.
The court declared that their arrest was in violation of Section 41-A of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) which mandates sending a notice to the accused for appearance before the concerned police officer.
The HC said the accused can be released on bail subject to furnishing provisional cash bail of Rs one lakh each, and they must cooperate with the investigating agencies.
The CBI had arrested Chanda and her husband on December 23, 2022 on allegations of cheating and irregularities in connection with a loan of Rs 3,250 crore granted in 2012 to the Videocon Group.
It was alleged that Kochhar's husband and her family members benefited from the dealings.
The probe agency claimed that when Chanda as CEO of ICICI Bank, cleared a loan for Videocon Group of Companies. As quid pro quo, her husband's company Nu Renewable allegedly received investment from Videocon.
The loan later was turned into a NPA and was termed as bank fraud.
Following the custodial interrogation, the special CBI court had remanded them to judicial custody on December 29.
The High Court was told that Chanda was arrested without complying with Section 46(4) of the Code of Criminal Procedure as there had been no presence of a female police officer during her arrest.
Among other grounds, the accused also claimed their arrest was without due sanction. They had co-operated with every summons issued to her by CBI which proved there was no non co-operation.
