ICICI-Videocon Case: Chanda Kochhar Moves Bombay High Court, Questions Legitimacy Of Prosecution Sanction

Chanda Kochhar, the former managing director and chief executive officer of ICICI Bank, has approached the Bombay High Court to challenge the sanction granted by the bank's board for her prosecution in the Videocon-ICICI Bank loan case as reported by Bar and Bench.

The petition, filed through Rashmikant & Partners, argues that the bank did not adhere to the proper procedure while granting the sanction.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), represented by advocate Kuldeep Patil, requested additional time to respond to the petition.

A division bench of justices P D Naik and N R Borkar granted the request and scheduled the hearing for 5 January 2024.

In her petition, Kochhar highlighted that the ICICI Bank board passed a resolution on 22 April 2023, granting sanction for her prosecution, as conveyed by the CBI to a special court in June 2023.

Kochhar's legal representation alleged that the bank did not follow the correct procedure for granting this sanction and emphasised that the bank did not incur any losses.

The case revolves around a Rs 3,250 crore loan extended by ICICI to the Videocon Group in 2012 during Kochhar's tenure as the head of the bank.

The CBI alleges cheating and irregularities in the loan approval process.

According to the CBI, Kochhar approved the loan benefiting her husband and family, with her husband's company, Nu Renewable, allegedly receiving investments from Videocon.

The loan eventually turned into a non-performing asset (NPA) and was labelled as bank fraud. Kochhar and her husband, Deepak Kochhar, were arrested by the CBI in December 2022.

On 9 January, the High Court granted them interim bail, asserting that their arrest did not meet the legal provisions under the Code of Criminal Procedure.

Subsequently, the CBI filed a chargesheet against them in July 2023.