The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday, 22 February, issued a lookout notice against the former CEO of ICICI bank Chanda Kochhar, her husband Deepak Kochhar and Videocon Group promoter Venugopal Dhoot in the Videocon loan case, ANI reported.
Last month, the CBI had registered an FIR in connection with alleged irregularities in the Rs 3,250 crore loan case.
The investigating agency had also named Kochhar as accused in the loan case during its investigations.
“After CBI filed its preliminary inquiry last year, lookout circulars against Deepak Kochhar and Venugopal Dhoot were issued for all airports, which have been revived now,” said a report in The Economic Times, quoting a CBI official who did not want to be identified.
“LOCs were filed after the FIR and are mandatory in cases where such economic offences are alleged. In recent times, keeping an eye on travel plans is a top concern for regulators,” the official added.
The storm, however, has been brewing since March 2018 with ICICI Bank and Kochhar, being in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons.
After supporting Kochhar for months, the bank, on 18 June 2018, had sent Kochhar on an indefinite leave, till the completion of an independent probe into the allegations made against her.
Additionally, independent activist and whistleblower Arvind Gupta had also levelled allegations of ‘quid pro quo deals’ by Kochhar, alleging that the Ruia brothers of the Essar group got undue favours from the bank for “round-tripping” investments into her spouse Deepak Kochhar’s NuPower Group.
Here is a break down of Kochhar’s ‘improprieties’ at ICICI Bank.
(This is a developing story and will be updated with more details)
(With inputs from ANI)
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