Pune: Deepak Kochhar, businessman and husband of former ICICI Bank CEO Chanda Kochhar, was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate for alleged money laundering in a deal between the Bank and Videocon Group. He had been questioned since Monday noon, before being arrested at night. The probe agency had filed a criminal case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) early last year against Ms Kochhar, her husband and Venugopal Dhoot of Videocon Group, to investigate the alleged irregularities and corrupt practices in sanctioning Rs 1,875 crore in loans by ICICI Bank.
Kochhar was arrested after the latest round of questioning, pertaining to fresh evidence that the agency has stumbled upon recently, people in the know how of the matter said. Kochhar was confronted with documents that the people said were related to a money trail concerning his company, NuPower Renewables. The ED''s money-laundering case is based on a first information report filed by the CBI against the Kochhars, Videocon Group chairman Venugopal Dhoot, and six others.
CBI has accused the former bank chief of allegedly receiving "illegal gratification" through her husband from Videocon for sanctioning a term loan. The Kochhars and others had denied the allegations.
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