Venugopal Dhoot arrested by CBI in ICICI Videocon loan case

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday arrested Videocon Group founder Venugopal Dhoot in connection with the ICICI Bank loan fraud case. This came days after the probe agency apprehended ICICI Bank’s former chief executive officer (CEO) and managing director Chanda Kochhar and her husband Deepak Kochhar for alleged irregularities in financial transactions with the now-bankrupt conglomerate.

Dhoot was arrested from Mumbai after a brief questioning session on Monday morning. Later, a special CBI court in Mumbai sent him to the agency’s custody till Wednesday while extending the remand of the Kochhar couple till the same date.

The CBI told the court it wanted to confront Dhoot with the Kochhars. The court noted that the investigation was in the initial stage in respect of a very serious offence, and in such cases, sufficient time was required to be given to the investigating agency to interrogate the accused.

S S Ladda, lawyer for Dhoot, said they had cooperated with the CBI on every summons issued in the past three years. “The summonses under Section 41 of CrPC were issued, and the laws are clear that the accused will not be arrested or else we would have taken anticipatory bail,” Ladda said.

The CBI is planning to file a charge sheet against the three and other suspects soon, officials said. The agency had taken into custody the Kochhars, alleging that they were not cooperating with the investigation and were giving evasive replies. Business Standard