Additional Solicitor General S.V. Raju, appearing for the probe agency, told the SC that the high court’s order was “absolutely perverse.”
On January 9, the HC had ordered her and her husband Deepak Kochhar’s interim release from judicial custody on the grounds that her arrest was not in accordance with law. It said that the arrest was in violation of Section 41A of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), which mandates sending of a notice for appearance before the concerned police officer prior to carrying out an arrest in certain cases. The HC also noted that the arrests were made four years after the criminal complaint was registered.
Chanda Kochhar and her husband were arrested by the CBI in December last year in a case linked to alleged irregularities in grant of loans worth Rs 3,250 crore by the ICICI Bank to Videocon Group in 2012 when she headed the bank. She allegedly approved the loan in exchange for investments in her husband’s company, Nupower Renewables Pvt Ltd, by Videocon Group’s promoter Venugopal Dhoot. The loan later turned into a non-performing asset and was termed as bank fraud.
The top court will next hear the matter after three weeks.