Loan fraud case: CBI arrests Videocon group chairman Venugopal Dhoot

New Delhi, December 26

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested Venugopal Dhoot, chairman of Videocon group, from Mumbai in connection with alleged cheating and irregularities in loans sanctioned by ICICI Bank to Videocon Group companies.

The CBI had arrested former ICICI Bank MD and CEO Chanda Kochhar and her husband Deepak Kochhar for allegedly cheating the bank of Rs 1,730 crore until March 2012.

In 2019, the CBI lodged an FIR against the Kochhars, Dhoot, and firms including Nupower Renewables and Videocon Industries, for allegedly cheating ICICI Bank of Rs 1,730 crore. In its FIR, the CBI also named Supreme Energy Pvt Ltd, Videocon International Electronics Ltd (VIEL) and unknown public servants as accused. 

The CBI said the amount was part of the Rs 40,000-crore loan that the Videocon Group secured from a consortium of 20 banks led by SBI. Almost 86 per cent of the Rs 3,250 crore loan (Rs 2,810 crore) remained unpaid. The Videocon account was declared a non-performing asset (NPA) in 2017.

According to the CBI, on August 26, 2009, the sanctioning committee of ICICI Bank, that included Chanda Kochhar, approved a loan of Rs 300 crore to VIEL “in contravention of the rules and policy”.

The FIR reads, "Chanda Kochhar, the CBI alleged, “dishonestly” abused her official position to disburse this loan on September 7, 2008 and the very next day, her husband’s firm Nupower Renewables received Rs 64 crore from Videocon Industries Ltd (VIL) to acquire its first power plant. “…Chanda Kochhar got illegal gratification/undue benefit through her husband from Dhoot for sanctioning RTL (rupee term loan) of Rs 300 crore to M/s VIEL". 

The CBI said that RTLs sanctioned to five companies of the Videocon Group between June 2009 and October 2011 were “in violation of the credit policy of the bank”.