MUMBAI: The CBI on Monday arrested Videocon CEO Venugopal Dhoot for involvement in an alleged money laundering case that surfaced days after the former ICICI bank CEO- Chanda Kochhar and her husband Deepak were arrested by the central probing agency in an over Rs 3,000 crore loan provided to Videocon Group. The arrest was sought from Mumbai today morning. The CBI will produce him before the special CBI court later in the day, seeking custodial remand.
The CBI has filed a conspiracy complaint against Kochhar, her husband, and Venugopal. Dhoot is accused of investing crores in NuPower Renewables after he was furnished with the loan which was later declared as non-performing assets in 2012.
The Kochhars are currently in custody and being interrogated after being presented in the Mumbai Court. Kochhar quit the post of CEO and MD of ICICI bank in 2018 over allegations of alleged fraud with Videocon Group. However, the bank marks her exit as ‘termination for cause’- as it claims she violated the bank’s code of conduct and internal policies. She according to the bank’s statement is accused of flouting banking rules and laws in a series of loans sanctioned to Venugopal Dhoot between 2009-11when she was lording the bank.
The Enforcement Directorate – last month questioned Dhoot over the matter. The agency has also earlier quizzed Mahesh Pungalia, a director of NuPower Renewables and a close aide of Dhoot, in the case. It also filed a case against Dhoot, Kochhar, and her husband Deepak in February 2019.