Supreme Court issues notice to Chanda Kochhar on CBI’s plea seeking cancellation of her bail

New Delhi, September 6 (IANS): The Supreme Court on Friday issued notice to former ICICI Bank director Chanda Kochhar on a petition filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) seeking cancellation of his bail in the alleged Videocon loan fraud case.

A bench headed by Justice Sanjiv Khanna agreed to hear the CBI’s special petition against the Bombay High Court’s order upholding its earlier order granting interim bail to the Kochhar couple.

The bench, also comprising Justice Sanjay Kumar, issued notice to Chanda Kochhar, her husband Deepak Kochhar and the Maharashtra government, and directed that the CBI plea be linked to the case of Videocon Group Chairman Venugopal Dhoot, where his bail was also challenged by the CBI.

“Issue notice and tag. Order to be served through all modes including dasti. List with SLP (Crl) No. 7068/2023 (CBI plea against Venugopal Dhoot’s bail). Delay condoned,” he ordered.

Additional Solicitor General SV Raju, appearing for the CBI, informed the Supreme Court that a chargesheet had been filed against the accused in the trial court and Chanda Kochhar had spent barely “a month” in custody.

In a decision delivered on February 6 this year, a division bench comprising Justices Anuja Prabhudessai and Nitin R. Borkar of the Bombay High Court upheld the interim bail order passed in January last year.

“The arrest on December 23, 2022 was not based on any additional material discovered during the course of investigation but on the same material that was in the possession of the investigating officer at the time of issuing the notice under Section 41A. Such routine arrest without application of mind and without due regard to law amounts to abuse of power and does not satisfy the requirements of Section 41A(3) of the Cr.PC,” the high court said, adding that the CBI had failed to show “the existence of any supporting circumstances or documents on the basis of which the decision of arrest was taken”.

In February this year, the Supreme Court had dismissed the central investigation agency’s petition against the Bombay High Court’s January 2023 order granting interim bail to Kochhar. However, it had granted the CBI liberty to file a fresh appeal against the High Court’s final order upholding the interim bail granted to the Kochhar couple. Chanda Kochhar and her businessman husband had allegedly received bribes during her tenure in lieu of loans to the Videocon group.