Deepak Kochhar sent in ED custody in money laundering case

PTI, Oct 13, 2020, 6:38 PM IST

Mumbai: A special court here on Tuesday remanded Deepak Kochhar, husband of former ICICI Bank CEO Chanda Kochhar, in the custody of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) till October 17.

Deepak Kochhar was arrested by the ED in September under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in the ICICI Bank-Videocon money laundering case.

He was remanded in the ED custody till September 19 after his arrest, but it was suspended after he tested positive for coronavirus and he was sent in judicial custody.

He then underwent treatment at a hospital. The probe agency produced him before the special PMLA court here again after he recovered from the infection and sought his remand.

The ED case followed an FIR registered by the CBI against Chanda Kochhar and Deepak Kochhar, Videocon Group promoter Venugopal Dhoot and others.

The ED invoked the PMLA for “illegal sanctioning of loans” amounting to Rs 300 crore to the Videocon Group of companies.

The agency alleged that Chanda Kochhar was the chairman of the bank’s loan sanctioning panel at the time, and only a day later, Rs 64 crore were transferred from Videocon”s account to Nupower Renewables Pvt Ltd (NRPL), earlier known as NuPower Renewables Ltd (NRL), a firm owned by Deepak Kochhar.

“Net revenue of Rs 10.65 crore was generated by NRL from these tainted funds. Therefore, proceeds of crime amounting to Rs 74.65 crore were transferred to or generated in NRPL,” the ED had claimed.