Court Allows New Charge Against Ex Banker Chanda Kochhar In Fraud Case

A special court here on Friday allowed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to add the IPC section on criminal breach of trust in the Videocon loan fraud case, in which former ICICI Bank CEO Chanda Kochhar and her businessman-husband are accused, saying the investigating officer can add or delete sections during the probe without the court's nod.

Following the arrest of Chanda Kochhar last month, the CBI had moved the special court seeking to add section 409 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) in the case against her. The section pertains to criminal breach of trust by a public servant, or by a banker, and entails a maximum punishment of 10 years in jail.

The former banker had opposed the CBI's move.

However, special CBI court Judge M R Purwar rejected the objection of Chanda Kochhar's lawyer, saying "the accused is not required to be heard and she is not having locus."

Besides Chanda Kochhar, the probe agency has named her businessman-husband Deepak Kochhar and Videocon Group founder Venugopal Dhoot as accused in the loan fraud case.

All three were arrested last month. While the Kochhars are out on interim bail, Dhoot is in jail under judicial custody and his plea for interim bail is pending in the Bombay High Court.

The CBI court said it "finds force" in the submission of the special public prosecutor.

It is the domain of the investigating officer to probe matters "with a view of a particular cognizable offence as enumerated in the Indian Penal Code and to collect the material, if any", said Judge Purwar.

The court said an investigating officer is free to add or delete sections of law based on material collected by him.

"If it is transpired to the investigating officer during investigation that any particular section is required to be added or deleted on the basis of material collected by him, he can very well add or delete the section and can intimate about it to the court. It is not necessary for him to seek prior permission of the court for that purpose," the special judge observed.

As per the CBI, ICICI Bank had sanctioned credit of Rs 3,250 crore to Videocon Group companies in violation of the Banking Regulation Act, Reserve Bank of India's guidelines and the credit policy of the private lender.

The CBI has named the Kochhars and Dhoot along with Nupower Renewables (NRL) managed by Deepak Kochhar, Supreme Energy, Videocon International Electronics Ltd and Videocon Industries Ltd as accused in the FIR registered in 2019 under Indian Penal Code sections related to cheating, criminal conspiracy and provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

As part of "quid pro quo" (something given in return for favour) for the loans sanctioned to Videocon Group firms, Dhoot invested Rs 64 crore in Nupower Renewables through Supreme Energy Pvt Ltd (SEPL), and transferred SEPL to Pinnacle Energy Trust managed by Deepak Kochhar through a circuitous route between 2010 and 2012, the CBI has alleged.

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