CBI conducts raids in Videocon-ICICI Bank loan case

Mumbai, Jan 24 (IANS) The CBI on Thursday raided four locations here in connection with a Rs 3,250 crore loan involving the Videocon Group and ICICI Bank, sources said here.

The raids were conducted shortly after the Central Bureau of Investigation registered an FIR against Deepak Kochhar, husband of former ICICI Bank MD and CEO Chanda Kochhar, over the 2012 case.

The FIR comes in the wake of a preliminary enquiry (PE) lodged on March 31, 2018, against Deepak Kochhar, Videocon group officials and others to determine whether any wrongdoing was involved in the sanctioning of the loan by the ICICI Bank as part of a consortium, a senior CBI official said.

The raids were carried out at the offices of Videocon, NuPower Renewables Pvt. Ltd. owned by Deepak Kochhar, and Supreme Energy Pvt. Ltd.

The CBI official said that a PE is conducted to ascertain if there is sufficient evidence of wrongdoing for a case to be taken up for detailed investigation. If the evidence suggests that a cognizable offence has been committed, then this is converted into a regular full-fledged FIR.

The Bureau initiated the PE after news reports raised questions about Videocon Chairman Venugopal Dhoot allegedly providing crores to a firm promoted by Deepak Kochhar and a few relatives six months after Dhoot's group received the Rs 3,250 crore loan.

The said amount was part of a Rs 40,000 crore loan which Videocon got from a consortium of 20 banks led by the State Bank of India.

Following the huge controversy over the alleged "conflict of interests" and "non-disclosure" in the loans sanctioned by ICICI, Chanda Kochhar, 56, quit her post seeking premature retirement on October 4, 2018.