The interim bail has been granted to the Videocon Group Chairman Venugopal Dhoot in the ICICI Bank – Videocon loan case by the Bombay High Court today.
Adivision bench of Justices Revati Mohite Dere and PK Chavan have passed the order in the same.The bench also has directed Dhoot to be released subject to furnishing bail bond of ₹1 lakh.
Dhoot is a co-accused in a case involving former Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of ICICI Bank Chanda Kochhar and her husband Deepak Kochhar.
On December 26, Dhoot was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) as he was not cooperating with the investigation.
Last year ,on December 29, a special CBI court in Mumbai had remanded Kochhar and Dhoot to judicial custody. Dhoot had approached the special court challenging his arrest.
The application by Dhoot was rejected by the special court on January 5, stating that it does not have the power to review its own order.
Dhoot approached the High Court then, challenging his illegal arrest by CBI and asked for an urgent interim release on bail.
Advocate Sandeep Ladda who argued for Dhoot’s said that the arrest was arbitrary, illegal, and a gross violation of Sections 41 and 41A of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).
He informed the bench that Dhoot had been arrested in a money laundering case for which he already has been granted bail by the Special PMLA Court which had observed that he was co-operating in the case.
He also argued that Dhoot had appeared before CBI on his own on December 26 (the day he was arrested) after he missed the summons issued for attendance on December 24 and 25, 2022.
Ladda also added that Dhoot had been summoned by ED on the same dates which was the reason for his non-appearance on those dates.
In view of these grounds, it was argued that Dhoot’s arrest was illegal and that he ought to be released on bail.
The Counsel for CBI counsel Senior Advocate Raja Thakare said that Dhoot along with Kochhars had tried to evade interrogation due to which the CBI was compelled to arrest them.
The non co-operation by Dhoot had also been recorded in the arrest memo and remand order of the special CBI court, Thakare apprised the Court.
Thakare also said that the arrest after so many years was only because the agency required time to study the huge amount of transactions in the case.
The lawyer of CBI said that these are cases of high magnitude. There are innumerable transactions in huge companies, directors come and go, multiple transactions happen. That has to be studied, that takes time. The entire material required for interrogation may not be available with agency. We may get material but we may not know its importance.