Chanda Kochhar's lawyer says principles of liberty upheld

The CBI had booked Chanda Kochhar, her husband, Venugopal Dhoot of Videocon Group, and others as accused in an FIR registered under IPC sections related to criminal conspiracy and provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act

Senior Advocate Amit Desai, who represented former ICICI Bank chief Chanda Kochhar at the Bombay High Court in bail proceedings told MoneyControl that the HC has upheld principles of justice.

Earlier today, the Bombay High Court granted bail to Chanda Kochhar and her husband Deepak Kochhar in the alleged Rs 3,250-crore Videocon fraud loan case.

The court ordered their release in a plea challenging their arrest and claiming it illegal. "Arrest not in accordance with the law," the court observed. It also asked the Kochhars to surrender their passports to the CBI.

Speaking of Bombay HC’s order, Desai said “as a lawyer, I am glad that principles of liberty have been upheld. The Supreme Court has laid down guidelines to ensure arrests should be an exception. Despite that arrests were taking place.  I am glad that the Bombay HC followed Supreme Court’s guidelines in this case.”

The CBI had booked the Kochhar duo and Videocon Group founder Venugopal Dhoot, along with companies like Nupower Renewables, Supreme Energy, Videocon International Electronics, and Videocon Industries, as accused in an FIR registered under various IPC sections related to criminal conspiracy and provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.