CBI's arrest of Chanda Kochhar, Deepak Kochhar in ICICI-Videocon loan case was illegal: Bombay High Court

The Bombay High Court on Tuesday held that the arrest of ICICI Bank's former Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Chanda Kochhar and her husband Deepak Kochhar by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the Videocon loan case was illegal..A division bench of Justices Anuja Prabhudessai and NR Borkar passed the verdict today confirming the interim bail granted to the couple on January 9, 2023. "The arrest was not on the basis of any additional material discovered in the course of the investigation, but was based on the same material which was within the knowledge of the Investigating Officer at the time of issuance of notice under Section 41A of the Code of Criminal Procedure. Such routine arrest without application of mind and due regard to the law amounts to an abuse of power and does not satisfy the requirement of Section 41A(3). Absence of such circumstances, information or material which is the sine qua non for the decision of arrest reduces the provision a dead letter and renders the arrest illegal", the court observed in its 32 page order..Chanda Kochhar and Deepak Kochhar were arrested by CBI on December 24 on allegations of cheating and irregularities in loan of ₹3,250 crore granted in 2012 to the Videocon Group.The complainant had alleged that Kochhar's husband and her family members benefited from the dealings.It was alleged that when Kochhar was at the helm of affairs at ICICI Bank, she cleared a loan for Videocon Group of Companies. As quid pro quo, her husband's company Nu Renewable allegedly received investment from Videocon. The loan later turned into a non-performing asset (NPA) and was termed as bank fraud.After initial CBI custody, the special CBI court had remanded them to judicial custody on December 29..The duo moved High Court seeking quashing of the case, declaring their arrest illegal and release from detention. A co-ordinate bench on January 9 last year ordered their interim release from judicial custody.The Court also held that the arrest was in violation of Section 41A of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) which mandates sending notice for appearance before the concerned police officer..When the petition was taken up for final hearing by the present division bench, Senior Advocate Amit Desai for Chanda Kochhar argued that they are not insisting that the court quash the FIR.He reasoned that the couple had filed another petition challenging the sanction granted by ICICI Bank to prosecute their former MD & CEO. Desai however maintained that the Kochhars had been arrested illegally and they violated the mandated procedures under the Code of Criminal Procedure. He also cited the interim order of January 9, 2023 in which even the division bench had noted that the identical arrest memos of the Kochhars did not record any specific grounds for arrest as mandated under Section 41 (notice to be issued before arrest) of CrPC..Meanwhile, advocate Kuldeep Patil appearing for CBI, argued that the interim order only considered the arrest memo and referred neither to the case diary nor the remand application. He argued that even the chargesheet against Chanda Kochhar contained evidence of non-co-operation. He also rebutted Desai's contention that Kochhar had not been arrested by a female officer. He argued that male police officers are not barred from arresting females as long as there is no physical contact.He added that a female officer was present when the arrest was made. .[Read order]