Bombay HC grants bail to Kochhar couple

Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Monday granted interim bail to former ICICI Bank CEO and MD Chanda Kochhar and her husband Deepak Kochhar in a loan fraud case, and came down heavily on the Central Bureau of Investigation for making the arrest in a "casual and mechanical" manner and without application of mind.

The CBI arrested Kochhars on December 23, 2022 in connection with the Videocon-ICICI Bank loan case, and they are presently in judicial custody.

The couple had filed petitions in the HC challenging their arrest, terming it as illegal and arbitrary. The duo had sought to be released on bail by way of an interim order.

A division bench of Justices Revati Mohite Dere and P K Chavan in its 49-page judgment on Monday said their arrest was not in accordance with the provisions of law.

The petitioners are entitled to be released on bail, pending the hearing and final disposal of the petitions, the HC said and listed the petitions for hearing on February 6. The court noted that in the present case, the grounds of arrest are merely stated as non-co-operation and not giving full and correct disclosure.

"The reason given in the arrest memos to arrest the petitioners, having regard to the facts as stated aforesaid, appears to us, to be casual, mechanical and perfunctory, clearly without application of mind," the court said.

The bench held that the arrest of Kochhars was in violation of Section 41A of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), which mandates sending notice for appearance before the police officer concerned.

"According to the facts, the petitioners' (Kochhars) arrest was not done in accordance with the provisions of law. There has been non-compliance of section 41(A) thus warranting their release," the high court said.