CBI gets time till Friday to file reply to Kochhars' plea against arrest

The Bombay High Court on Tuesday granted the Central Bureau of Investigation CBI time till Friday to file its reply to the plea of former ICICI Bank Chief Executive Officer and MD Chanda Kochhar and her businessmanhusband Deepak Kochhar challenging their arrest in an alleged loan fraud caseThe Kochhar couple has moved the HC seeking to quash their remand order calling their arrest illegal Seeking their release from jail they have also submitted that their son is getting married later this month and invitations have already been sent out to guestsThe CBI arrested Chanda and Deepak Kochhar in the case on December 23 following which the couple was sent to jail under judicial custodyAlso read Gold ink Quran ancient manuscripts preserved by RSSinspired body on display at Science CongressOn Tuesday when the HC took up their plea against arrest the central agency sought time to file its responseDeepak Kochhars lawyer Vikram Chaudhary submitted that the wedding of his clients son is scheduled for later this month and invitation cards have been distributedThe businessman was called to record his statement in the case but was instead arrested said the lawyerChanda Kochhars lawyer told the court that the prosecution in a case against her under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act PMLA had made a statement that her arrest was not requiredBut the CBI arrested the former ICICI Bank CEO citing noncooperation in investigation of the loan fraud case said her lawyerThe Kochhars have been named accused in a separate case filed under the PMLA against them by the Enforcement Directorate EDThe lawyers sought the couples interim release on account of their sons upcoming weddingHowever the high court said the CBI needs to be given time to file its response to the plea and adjourned the matter till FridayThe CBI has named the Kochhars Videocon Group founder Venugopal Dhoot along with companies Nupower Renewables NRL managed by Deepak Kochhar Supreme Energy Pvt Ltd SEPL Videocon International Electronics Ltd VIEL and Videocon Industries Ltd in its 2019 FIR registered under Indian Penal Code IPC sections related to criminal conspiracy and the Prevention of Corruption ActThe probe agency has alleged that ICICI Bank in 2009 had sanctioned credit of Rs 3250 crore to Videocon Group companies in violation of the Banking Regulation Act RBI guidelines and the private lenders credit policyThe day after the loan was disbursed Dhoot transferred Rs 64 crore to NRL from VIEL through SEPL the CBI has allegedAt the time Chanda Kochhar headed the leading private sector bankThe probe agency has also arrested Dhoot in the case and he too is in judicial custodyThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever