Former ICICI Bank CEO and managing director Chanda Kochhar and her husband, Deepak, walked out of jail on January 10 morning, a day after the Bombay High Court granted them interim bail in a loan fraud case.
Chanda was released from the Byculla women's prison in Mumbai, while Deepak got out of the Arthur Road jail. The couple had filed petitions in the Bombay High Court terming their arrests as illegal and arbitrary.
The High Court came down hard on the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for making the arrest in a "casual and mechanical" manner and without application of mind. It also said it was incumbent upon the police not only to record the reasons for arrest in writing but also in cases where the police choose not to arrest.
"It is also incumbent on courts to satisfy themselves that there is due compliance of Sections 41 and 41-A, failing which, the same will ensure the benefit of the person suspected of the offence, entitling the person to be released on bail," the court was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.
The bail is only procedural and will not affect the facts of the case, senior lawyers have told Moneycontrol.
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"The release of Kochars in ICICI Bank-Videocon fraud case is just procedural. It would not affect the facts or circumstances of the case. The honourable court is yet to adjudicate the matter on merits," said Anushkaa Arora, Principal & Founder, ABA Law Office, a Delh-based legal firm.
On December 24, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested Chanda Kochhar and Deepak in a suspected Rs 3,250 crore scam involving loans to the Videocon Group.
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Two days later, the agency also arrested Videocon’s Venugopal Dhoot, who allegedly entered a quid pro quo deal with the Kochhars. In return for the loans from ICICI Bank, he invested in a renewable power company run by Deepak Kochhar, the CBI has alleged.
The Bombay High Court will on January 10 hear a petition filed by Dhoot, challenging his arrest in the case as "arbitrary and illegal" and seeking bail.
Dhoot's plea was mentioned by his advocate Sandeep Ladda on January 9 before a division bench of Justices Revati Mohite Dere and PK Chavan, which said it would hear it the next day .
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