The Central Bureau of Investigation on Monday arrested Videocon founder and CEO Venugopal Dhoot in connection with the ICICI Bank loan fraud case. Dhoot, 71, was arrested by the central probe agency in Mumbai. The development comes less than three days after the CBI arrested former ICICI Bank CEO and MD Chanda Kochhar and her husband Deepak Kochhar in connection with the case on Friday.
The Kochhars were arrested over their alleged role in the Videocon loan case and have been charged with irregularities in granting loans and cheating in the 2012 case.
In its FIR registered in the case in 2019, the CBI had named Dhoot and the Kochhars, along with companies Nupower Renewables (NRL) managed by Deepak Kochhar, Supreme Energy, Videocon International Electronics Ltd, and Videocon Industries Limited, as accused under IPC sections related to criminal conspiracy and provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act in 2019, officials said.
The CBI has alleged that ICICI Bank had sanctioned credit facilities to the tune of Rs 3,250 crore to the companies of Videocon Group promoted by Dhoot in violation of the Banking Regulation Act, RBI guidelines, and credit policy of the bank.
CBI officials further said that Videocon promoter Venugopal Dhoot allegedly invested crores of rupees in Nupower months securing Rs 3,250 crore as a loan from ICICI Bank in 2012. Chanda Kochhar is accused of sanctioning some loans to private entities in a criminal conspiracy along with others. The FIR, filed in 2019 by the CBI, states that the alleged conspiracy was to cheat the ICICI Bank.
The agency has also alleged in its FIR that Dhoot made an investment of Rs 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 as a part of the quid pro quo.