Supreme Court seeks reply of former ICICI Bank CEO Chanda Kochhar, her husband on CBI’s plea in loan fraud case
A bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose and Bela M Trivedi issued notice on the plea of the CBI and sought the response of the couple in three weeks
The CBI's appeal against the interim bail that the Bombay High Court had granted to former ICICI Bank CEO-turned-MD Chanda Kochhar and her businessman husband Deepak Kochhar in connection with a loan fraud case was taken up by the Supreme Court on Monday. A bench made up of Justices Aniruddha Bose and Bela M. Trivedi sent out notice on the CBI's plea and requested the couple's response within three weeks.
Speaking on behalf of the CBI, Additional Solicitor General SV Raju stated that the high court had mistakenly assumed that the offense carried a maximum sentence of seven years in prison, failing to take into account section 409 of the IPC (criminal breach of trust by public servant), which carries a sentence that can range from ten years to life in prison.
The bench questioned Raju about the application of section 409 of the IPC in the context of a private bank. In response, Raju stated that although the bank is private, public funds are involved.
The bench stated that notice is being sent and a response is expected in three weeks.
On January 9, the couple was granted temporary release by the high court after the CBI was criticized for their "casual and mechanical" arrests and "clearly without application of mind" in the loan fraud case.
On December 23, 2022, the CBI detained the Kochhar family in relation to the loan fraud case involving Videocon and ICICI Bank.
