Videocon's Venugopal Dhoot arrested by CBI in ICICI Bank loan fraud case

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday arrested Videocon chairman and chief executive officer Venugopal Dhoot in the ICICI bank fraud case. The CBI is expected to produce Dhoot before a Special CBI court in Mumbai later in the day.

This comes two days after the investigative agency arrested ICICI Bank's former CEO and managing director Chanda Kochhar and her husband Deepak Kochhar for alleged irregularities in ₹3,250-crore worth of loans provided to the Videocon group when she was leading the private lender.

Kocchar and her husband have been remanded to the CBI custody till December 26.

The CBI, which launched an inquiry into the alleged bank fraud in 2018, had filed a first information report (FIR) against Kochhar, her husband and Dhoot in 2019. Supreme Energy, Videocon International Electronics and Videocon Industries were also named in the FIR.

Kochhar found herself under a cloud of suspicion after a whistleblower levelled allegations of corruption and nepotism with respect to loans extended to Videocon and Dhoot's investment and stake transfer in NuPower Renewables, a company floated by Chanda Kochhar's husband, Deepak Kochhar.

It has been alleged that after Videocon secured the loan, the company's chairman, Dhoot, invested ₹64 crore in NuPower Renewables.

An independent probe, set up by the bank's board in May 2018 and led by Justice B.N. Srikrishna, found that Kochhar violated the lender's code of conduct in disbursal of loans to Dhoot's Videocon Group. The alleged quid pro quo in loans disbursed by ICICI Bank to Videocon also resulted in the bank treating Kochhar's resignation in October 2018 as "termination for cause".

The bank had also revoked all her entitlements such as any unpaid amounts, unpaid bonuses or increments, unvested and vested unexercised stock options, and medical benefits. The lender also clawed back all bonuses paid to Kochhar from April 2009 until March 2018.

Nupower Renewables was incorporated on December 24, 2008, with Deepak Kochhar, Venugopal Dhoot, and Saurabh Dhoot as the first directors of the company. On January 15, 2009, the Dhoots resigned from the directorship of the company. However, before quitting, Venugopal Dhoot allotted 1,997,500 warrants to Deepak Kochhar at the rate of ₹10 per warrant, on an initial payment of ₹1 per warrant. The loans to Videocon Group companies eventually turned into non-performing assets (NPAs) by 2017.