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Supreme Court to Hear CBI Appeal on Kochhars’ Arrest Ruling
On Friday, the Supreme Court said it would hear a petition associated with the recent Bombay High Court observation that the CBI arrest of former ICICI Bank MD & CEO Chanda Kochhar and her husband Deepak Kochhar in the Videocon loan case was unlawful [ CBI v/s Chanda Kochhar and ors].
A Bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and PV Sanjay Kumar passed the order issuing notice as soon as initial arguments were made by Additional Solicitor General SV Raju who is representing the CBI.
Recalled by Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice PV Sanjay Kumar
Justice Sanjiv Khanna & Justice PV Sanjay Kumar
The appeal has been filed against an order passed in February this year with the Bombay High Court.
By this order, the High Court affirmed the interim bail granted to Chanda & Deepak Kochhar and simultaneously declared the arrest of the couple by CBI unlawful.
This led to the instant appeal by the CBI before the apex court.
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Chanda Kochhar and Deepak Kochhar, both, were arrested by the CBI in December 2022 in connection of cheating and felling in sanction of ₹3,250 crore loan extended to Videocon by the ICICI in 2012.
The complainant was able to allege that Kochhar’s husband, and her family members benefited from the dealings.
Another claim was that while at ICICI Bank Kochhar okayed a loan for the Videocon Group of Companies. In return, her husband, Nitin, owners of Nu Renewable, claimed that investment was made by Videocon to the company. It went on to become a non performing asset (NPA) and was brought under name of bank fraud.
After the couple’s arrest in 2022 and when they were in the CBI custody for the first time, a special CBI court had again sent them to judicial custody on the 29th of December, 2022.
Interim bail was given to the couple by the Bombay High Court on January 9, 2023. In February this year the High Court upon hearing the interim bail confirmed it and further held that their arrest by the CBI was unlawful.
It said that the arrests were in violation of Section 41A of the CrPC which has provided for serving the notice for appearances before the concerned police officer.
