MUMBAI, Dec 26:
A special court today sent Videocon group’s founder Venugopal Dhoot in CBI custody till December 28 and extended the remand of former ICICI Bank CEO and MD Chanda Kochhar and her husband Deepak Kochhar till the same date in the loan fraud case.
The probe agency told the court it wanted to confront Dhoot with the Kochhars.
The court noted the investigation is in the initial stage in respect of a very serious offence and in such cases, sufficient time is required to be given to the investigating agency to interrogate the accused.
It said the arrest of the new accused in this case indicates progress in the investigation.
The Kochhars were arrested by the probe agency on Friday night after a brief questioning session and had been remanded to the custody of CBI till December 26. Dhoot,71, was arrested on Monday morning.
Later in the day, the probe agency produced all three accused before special CBI Judge AS Sayyad.
The Central Bureau of Investigation(CBI), represented by special public prosecutor A Limosin, sought three-day custody of Dhoot and an extension of remand of the Kochhars for as many days to confront all the accused.
While praying for Dhoot’s remand, the special public prosecutor (SPP) told the court the Videocon founder is the “ultimate beneficiary” of the loan (granted by ICICI) and the amount of Rs 1,033 crore was yet to be paid.
Dhoot has changed his version on several occasions during the investigation, the SPP said. The CBI told the court the Videocon founder “has not disclosed full and true facts of the case”.
The probe agency further told the court Dhoot is required to be confronted with the Kochhar couple for a proper probe and to take the case to its logical end.
Dhoot’s lawyer SS Ladda opposed the remand saying his client has always cooperated with the investigation.
Ladda submitted before the court the arrest itself was illegal and that Dhoot should be released on bail.
Responding to CBI notices, Dhoot visited the probe agency’s office on December 19 and 20, and was asked to appear again on Sunday, Ladda told the court.
However, Dhoot had communicated to the probe agency he won’t be able to turn up on December 25 due to his health condition but would do so the following day, Ladda said.
When he went to the CBI office, Dhoot was subjected to an RT-PCR (for COVID) and placed under arrest, the lawyer told the court. (PTI)
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