Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Tuesday directed the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) not to take any coercive actions against former MD and CEO of ICICI Bank Chanda Kochhar. The court has also asked the agency to question her during office hours.
A bench of Justices Revati Mohite-Dere and Prithviraj Chavan granted relief to Kochhar while hearing a plea by her contending that senior citizens like her should only be summoned and interrogated during office working hours.
Kochhar approached the HC after SFIO issued summons to her asking her to appear on November 22. Her counsel Amit Desai argued that the SFIO has issued the summons after a three-year gap following their investigation into the alleged case. Her plea further stated that the transactions under SFIO scrutiny had already been examined by the ED and CBI.
Earlier, the HC had granted similar relief to her husband Deepak Kochhar who is a co-accused in the case. He was summoned despite not being a director, shareholder, or affiliated with any companies under SFIO investigation.
Kochhars are under investigation concerning the Videocon case and 12 other companies. She is booked under the Prevention of Corruption Act over a loan of Rs3,200 crore given to the Videocon group when she was at the helm.
The central agency had arrested Chanda and Deepak Kochhar and founder of Videocon group Venugopal Dhoot. The CBI FIR names Kochhars and Dhoot along with companies Nupower Renewables (NRL) managed by Deepak Kochhar, Supreme Energy, Videocon International Electronics Ltd and Videocon Industries Limited, as accused.
