Supreme Court To Hear CBI Plea Against Chanda Kochhar’s Bail

The Supreme Court will hear on Friday a plea from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) challenging the Bombay High Court’s decision to grant bail to former ICICI Bank chief Chanda Kochhar in the alleged Videocon loan fraud case.

A bench consisting of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Sanjay Kumar will review the CBI’s special leave petition. This comes after the Supreme Court had previously disposed of the CBI’s plea in February against the Bombay High Court’s January 2023 decision to grant interim bail to Kochhar. However, the top court allowed the CBI to file a new appeal regarding the final decision upholding the interim bail.

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On February 6, a Division Bench of Justices Anuja Prabhudessai and Nitin R. Borkar of the Bombay High Court confirmed the interim bail order from January of the previous year. The High Court criticized the arrest of Kochhar on December 23, 2022, as being based on the same evidence known to the Investigating Officer at the time of the notice under Section 41A. The court deemed the arrest routine and lacking proper justification, stating it amounted to an abuse of power under Section 41A(3) Cr.P.C. The CBI was unable to present additional supportive material to justify the arrest decision.

Chanda Kochhar and her husband, businessman Deepak Kochhar, are accused of receiving kickbacks during her tenure in exchange for loans provided to the Videocon group.