The Bombay High Court on Monday gave interim bail to Chanda Kochhar, former ICICI Bank MD & CEO, and her husband Deepak Kochhar in the Videocon loan fraud case.
The division bench of Justices Revati Mohite-Dere and Prithviraj K Chavan held that the Kochhars’ arrest was not in accordance with the law and pointed out non-compliance with the mandate of Sections 41(1)(b)(ii), Section 41-A (notice of appearance issued by investigating officer) and Section 60A (arrests to be made strictly in accordance with the code) of the Criminal Procedure Code, warranting their release on bail.
The court held that even a special judge had overlooked the mandate of the law while sending them to CBI custody.
The bench held that the reason to arrest the petitioners after four years since the probe began was “not spelt out” in the arrest memos. It said the grounds stated for arresting the petitioners are “unacceptable” and “contrary to the grounds required to arrest a person under the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC)”.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested the duo on December 23 in connection to the alleged irregularities in the loans issued by ICICI Bank to the Videocon Group.
The order comes after Chanda Kochhar and Deepak Kochhar moved the HC while in judicial custody. On an order of a special court, they were under judicial custody for 14 days after being remanded CBI custody till December 28.
Arguing on behalf of Chanda Kochhar, senior counsel Amit Desai said there was no occasion to arrest the duo as they had cooperated with the CBI from the time the preliminary enquiry. They had also cooperated and appeared in the case before the Prevention of Money Laundering (PMLA) court. The CBI while arresting them had contravened their constitutional mandate and statutory rights. He also contended that there was no lady officer at the time of Chanda Kochhar’s arrest.
“…the reasons for arrest have not been spelt out in the arrest memo and that arrest cannot be at the ipse dixit or at the whims and fancies of an officer, as done in the present case,” Desai said.
The HC released the duo on cash bail of Rs 1,00,000 each. Separately, they are also required to file a bond of Rs 1,00,000 each in two weeks, along with sureties before the special CBI judge.
The HC has also directed Chanda Kochhar and and Deepak Kochhar to co-operate in the investigation and refrain from tampering with the evidence.