Bombay HC grants bail to Videocon founder Venugopal Dhoot

---

By  India Blooms News Service   Jan 21, 2023

Mumbai: The Bombay High Court granted interim bail to Videocon group founder and chairman, Venugopal Dhoot in the Videocon loan fraud case, media reports said.

Dhoot submitted his bail plea after co-accused former ICICI Bank CEO Chanda Kochhar and her husband Deepak Kochhar were granted bail and released from jail on Tuesday.

A division bench comprising justices Revati Mohite Dere and Prithviraj Chavan heard Dhoots plea.

The Kochhars were arrested on December 23 last year and sent to judicial custody.

Chanda Kochhar has been accused of criminal conspiracy and cheating by the probe agency for alleged irregularities in a loan of Rs. 3,250 crores in 2012 to the Videocon Group, which became a non-performing asset for the ICICI Bank.

A whistle-blower alleged that Kochhars husband Deepak Kochhar and her family members benefited from the dealings.

Last year, the ED had filed a criminal case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) against Chanda Kochhar, her husband, and Venugopal Dhoot of Videocon Group to investigate alleged irregularities and corrupt practices in sanctioning Rs 1,875 crore in loans by ICICI Bank.

The probe agency had also attached assets worth Rs 78 crore in connection with a money laundering case.

Reports said Dhoot had provided Rs 64 crore to a firm called NuPower Renewables Pvt Ltd that he had set up with Deepak and two relatives six months after the Videocon group got Rs 3,250 crore as a loan from ICICI Bank in 2012. Rs 2,810 crore of the loan remains unpaid.