New Delhi: The CBI officer probing the case against former ICICI Bank chief Chanda Kochhar, her husband Deepak Kochhar and Videocon head Venugopal Dhoot, was transferred on Thursday — a day after a case against them was filed — sources told a private news channel.
The agency’s move had drawn criticism from Union Minister Arun Jaitley, who called it “investigative adventurism” and said it was one of the reasons for the poor conviction rate in India. The Congress said the government interfereing again In the agency, which went after its “suited booted friends” this time.
Sudhanshu Dhar Mishra, who was part of the Banking and Securities Fraud Cell, was transferred to the agency’s Economic Offences branch in Ranchi on Thursday.
A day before, the agency had filed a case against Chanda Kochhar, her husband Deepak Kochhar and Videocon head Venugopal Dhoot.
They are accused of massive irregularities in obtaining a loan for the Videocon Group and channelling a part of it into a firm founded by Deepak Kochhar, which suggests a quid pro quo.
The agency said Dhoot invested crores in Kochhar’s NuPower Renewables months after the firm got a huge loan from the ICICI.
Kochhar was part of the team that decided to grant the Rs 3,250 crore loan to Videocon Group — a legacy firm that had become a non-performing asset for the ICICI.
Kochhar quit last October as the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of ICICI Bank after a whistleblower alleged that her family benefited from the dealings.