A special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court on Friday said that former ICICI MD-CEO Chanda Kocchar is not required to be heard on the prosecution's plea to invoke an additional charge of Sec 409 of the IPC dealing with criminal breach of trust by a public servant, banker, etc and that she does not have the locus.
Investigating officer can add or delete charges: Court
Further, the court said it is not necessary for the investigating officer to seek its permission to add or delete any charge and the officer can very well add or delete the charge and intimate it.
The charge is punishable by a minimum of 1 year and a maximum of 10 years jail and fine.
Kochhar had objected to addition of charge
Kocchar had objected to the addition of charge. She and her husband Deepak Kocchar were arrested in a loan fraud case concerning ICICI Bank and Videocon group and had recently secured release from the Bombay High Court. Videocon Chairman Venugopal Dhoot was also arrested and is still in custody. The CBI alleges Dhoot bribed Chanda to sanction loans to his companies. A firm managed by Deepak Kocchar had received part of the kickbacks.
Kochhar need not to be heard: Court
The agency's prosecutor A Limosin had argued that the accused do not have the right to be heard in the matter as per the settled position of law based on a number of apex court judgments. Special CBI judge MR Purwar said there is force in the submission of the prosecutor and that at the stage of the case and for the purpose of the present application, she does not need to be heard.
