Image Source: AGENCIES

Date :- 20-01-2023
Watsupptoday Desk

Bombay High Court on Friday granted interim bail to Videocon Group founder Venugopal Dhoot, nearly a month after being arrested by the CBI in ICICI Bank-Videocon loan fraud case. The court has directed to release him from jail immediately on bail of Rs 1 lakh. ranting him bail, the court said that Dhoot should cooperate in investigations and not tamper with witness evidence. The Videocon Group founder has also been asked to deposit his passport and not leave India without permission. Dhoot's lawyer Sandeep Ladda had filed this petition in the court days after the prime accused, former ICICI CEO Chanda Kochhar and her husband Deepak Kochhar, were granted bail on the grounds of "illegal arrest by CBI". In his plea, Dhoot termed his arrest by CBI as "arbitrary, illegal, done without following due procedure of law and in gross violation of section 41 (A) of the Code of Criminal Procedure which mandates for a notice to be issued to accused to join the probe and to make an arrest only if absolutely necessary". CBI had registered a preliminary enquiry against Deepak Kochhar and Dhoot in March 2018 to probe alleged irregularities in the Rs 40,000 crore loan made by a consortium of lenders to the Videocon Group. The agency had filed a case against Chanda, her husband and Venugopal Dhoot, along with their companies viz NuPower Renewables, Supreme Energy, Videocon International Electronics Ltd and Videocon Industries Limited. During its preliminary enquiry, the CBI found six loans worth Rs 1,875 crore were sanctioned to the Videocon Group and companies associated with it between June 2009 and October 2011 in an alleged violation of laid-down policies of ICICI Bank, which are part of the probe.