ICICI-Videocon loan case: Chanda Kochhar, husband appear before ED again

ICICI-Videocon loan case: Chanda Kochhar, husband appear before ED again

Former ICICI Bank CEO Chanda Kochhar and her husband Deepak Kochhar were grilled for the second consecutive day by Enforcement Directorate sleuths in connection with the Videocon Group bank loan case. The couple was grilled for eight hours on Monday as well. On Tuesday morning, they appeared again at the agency headquarters.

Sources said that documents pertaining to a Rs 64 crore investment in Nupower Renewables Limited, through the Supreme Energy Private Limited (SEPL), were sought from the Kochhars. The agency had earlier recorded their statements in Mumbai as well, while Chanda's brother-in-law Rajiv was also quizzed in Mumbai and Delhi by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The ED's money-laundering probe is based on an FIR registered by the CBI, alleging a quid pro quo of Rs 64 crore in the form of investments in Deepak's company, in exchange of sanction of loans to the Videocon Group. The CBI had said these people, as part of ICICI Bank committees, had cleared some of the six loans worth Rs 1,875 crore to Videocon and associated companies.

The agency had also carried out raids at offices of the Videocon group and Nupower Renewables in Mumbai and Aurangabad. The FIR was registered following a preliminary enquiry after allegations that Rs 3,250 crore worth of loans were sanctioned by the bank to companies associated with the Videocon Group in violation of laid-down norms.