CBI Arrests Videocon Chairman Venugopal Dhoot in ICICI Loan Fraud Case

Chairman of the Videocon Group, Venugopal Dhoot was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation in the ICICI loan case on Monday. This comes days after former ICICI Bank CEO Chanda Kochhar and her husband Deepak Kochhar were arrested by the CBI in a case linked to alleged irregularities in an over ₹ 3,000-crore loan provided to the Videocon Group when she was heading the private sector bank.

The Kochhars are being interrogated after being presented in a Mumbai court.

The CBI had named the Kochhars and Mr Dhoot, along with companies Nupower Renewables (NRL) managed by Deepak Kochhar, Supreme Energy, Videocon International Electronics Ltd, and Videocon Industries Limited, as accused in the FIR registered under IPC sections related to criminal conspiracy and provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act in 2019.

Chanda Kochhar, 59, had quit as CEO and managing director of ICICI Bank in October 2018 over allegations that she favoured Videocon Group, a consumer electronics and oil and gas exploration company.

Saying that she violated the bank's code of conduct and internal policies, ICICI said a year later that it would treat Ms Kochhar's exit as "termination for cause", NDTV reported.

The CBI had alleged that ICICI Bank had sanctioned credit facilities to the tune of ₹ 3,250 crore to the companies of Videocon Group promoted by Mr Dhoot in violation of the Banking Regulation Act, RBI guidelines, and credit policy of the bank.

It was also alleged that as a part of the quid pro quo, Mr 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, the FIR has alleged.

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