ICICI Bank loan case: CBI questions Rajiv Kochhar and Venugopal Dhoot's close aide

The CBI on Saturday questioned Rajiv Kocchar, brother-in-law of ICICI Bank MD and CEO Chanda Kochhar, and Mahesh Chandra Pugalia, a close aide of Videocon Group chief Venugopal Dhoot in connection with a case relating to Rs 3,250 crore loan to the group in 2012. Officials said that both of them were questioned at the Central Bureau of Investigation`s (CBI) Bandra office. According to CBI officials, Pugalia was previously an employee of Videocon Group and then used to offer consultancy services to it.  He is also a Director in NuPower Renewables Private Limited, the company formed by ICICI CEO MD and CEO`s husband Deepak Kocchar and Dhoot in 2008. 

Meanwhile, Rajiv Kochhar was questioned for the third consecutive day in connection with the case. According to the agency officials, he was asked about the role of his Singapore-based company Avista Advisory in the restructuring of loan. They said he was also asked about the help he extended to Videocon in securing the loan from the ICICI Bank, which was part of a Rs 40,000 crore credit given by a consortium of 20 bandks, led by the State Bank of India, to the Videocon Group.

The CBI on Thursday and Friday, too, questioned Rajiv Kochhar for hours in connection with the case. He was on Thursday stopped at Mumbai airport by immigration authorities around 11 a.m when he was about to leave for Singapore. Later, he was handed over to a CBI team which brought him to its Bandra office for questioning as part of its preliminary probe against his brother Deepak Kochhar and Dhoot.

The agency had registered a preliminary inquiry against Deepak Kochhar, Videocon Group officials and others to determine any wrongdoing or otherwise in the sanction of loan to the Group by the ICICI Bank as part of the consortium of banks in 2012. Chanda Kochhar, who is facing questions of conflict of interest in the case, has not been named in the preliminary inquiry, which was registered after news reports raised questions about the Videocon Chairman giving loan of Rs 64 crore to a firm he had jointly promoted with Deepak Kochhar, six months after his group got the Rs 3,250 crore loan. 

Sources said Deepak Kochhar and Dhoot could also called for questioning after examination of documents of the loan and statements.