Court refuses bail to Deepak Kochhar in money laundering case

A Mumbai court on Tuesday rejected a bail plea of businessman Deepak Kochhar, husband of former ICICI Bank CEO Chanda Kochhar and an accused in a money laundering case.

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

Special PMLA judge P P Rajvaidya rejected the `regular' bail application of Deepak Kochhar, filed on merits of the case as against technical grounds.

Last month, the court had rejected his ‘default' bail plea, filed on the ground that the ED had failed to file a charge sheet in the case within the stipulated period.

The ED registered the money laundering case following an FIR registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against the Kochhar couple, Videocon Group promoter Venugopal Dhoot and others.

ED slapped money laundering charges against the Kochhars and their business entities for "illegal sanctioning of loans amounting to Rs 1,875 crore to the Videocon Group of companies".

From a Rs 300 crore loan sanctioned by a committee headed by Chanda Kochhar to Videocon International Electronics Ltd, Videocon Industries Ltd transferred Rs 64 crore to Nupower Renewables Pvt Ltd (NRPL) on September 8, 2009, only a day after the disbursement of the loan by ICICI Bank, the ED alleged.

NRPL, earlier known as Nupower Renewables Ltd (NRL), is owned by Deepak Kochhar, the agency said.

A "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 alleged.

Photograph: PTI Photo