Mumbai: The Bombay High Court will decide on Jan 9 whether former ICICI Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Chanda Kochhar and her husband Deepak Kochhar should be granted interim relief and released.
A division bench of Justices Revati Mohite-Dere and Prithviraj Chavan were hearing a plea filed by the couple seeking release, terming the arrest by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the alleged ICICI-Videocon quid pro quo loanfraud case as “illegal”.
HC: Hearing the case purely on its merits & not because of Kochhar's son's wedding
The court clarified that it is not entertaining their plea for urgent relief because of their son’s wedding. It is purely on the merits of the case (regarding section 41A of the Code of Criminal Procedure; CrPC), Justice Dere said. As per section 41A of the CrPC, the police may issue summons to the accused person and record his/her statement in cases where arrest is not warranted.
Mrs Kochhar’s counsel Amit Desai argued that she was summoned on July 4, 2022 but couldn’t go and finally went on July 8. They were arrested on Dec 23 after a perfunctory interrogation. What prompted the issuance of notice under section 41A of the CrPC five months later on Dec 15, 2022, and the subsequent arrest, Mr Desai questioned.
He further argued that the law mandates that a person who complies with the notice must not be arrested unless the officer records reasons.
He further pointed out that the arrest memo alleges that Mrs Kochhar hasn’t been co-operating and disclosing true facts. “There are 210 pages of statements and 810 pages of documents…still, the investigating officer is saying there is no cooperation and Kochhars are giving vague replies,” Mr Desai added. He contended that she was unaware of the happenings in her husband’s business.
CBI opposes plea
Mr Desai argued that the officer who arrested Kochhar is a male officer, and the arrest memo does not show presence of a lady officer. Also, no sanction was acquired under section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act before registering the FIR.
Senior Advocate Raja Thakare, appearing for the CBI, opposed the plea stating that the couple was arrested as they were giving evasive answers to the investigating officer’s pointed questions.
He emphasised that Ms Kochhar was not even touched by a male officer as it is a white-collar crime, and they weren’t handcuffed and taken. It is fallacious to contend that no woman constable was present when arresting her, said Mr Thakare .
