An incharge court on Friday rejected the plea of businessman Deepak Kochhar, husband of former MD and CEO of ICICI bank Chanda Kochhar, for admission in a private hospital of his choice for two weeks for recovery post-COVID-19.
The plea had been made through his advocates Vijay Agarwal and Rahul Agarwal on October 17. The other ailments he suffers necessitated such care, the plea had said.
His advocates had told the court that he has been advised two weeks of rest by the doctors and that post-COVID-19 care facility may not be available at Taloja jail. The prosecution had opposed this plea and said that in the absence of a report from the jail on whether it possessed the facilities, the plea could not be considered. The court had then called for a report from the chief medical officer of Taloja jail.
The report that arrived from the jail on Friday, after a few reminders to the jail authorities, said that all the facilities are available for treatment in the jail. The plea then came to be rejected.
Kochhar had been arrested on September 8 and had tested positive for coronavirus when he was in custodial interrogation with the Enforcement Directorate (ED). Though five days of his custody for investigation were pending at the time, the custody was suspended with the permission of the court and he was admitted in New Delhi’s AIIMS and, thereafter, to Apollo, from where he was discharged this month. Post his discharge, the ED had again sought his custody to continue the investigation, which the court gave. This plea was made the day his custody ended and he was being remanded back in Taloja jail.
