Post time: 01:14 pm PST
The head of the Videocon group, Venugopal Dhoot, was detained by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday as part of an investigation into loans totaling Rs 1,730 crore that the ICICI Bank approved while Chanda Kochhar was the MD and CEO of the institution.
Dhoot was placed in custody by the CBI until December 28 by a vacation court. The three-day remand period for Chanda Kochhar and her husband Deepak, who were detained on Friday, was also extended by the court. To confront the accused, the CBI requested a three-day detention.
The three were not complying, according to the investigating officer, and they declined to show up in person for questioning together. “On December 15, we called the three and asked them to join the investigation on December 19. But none did, for a variety of explanations.
Dhoot then showed up on December 22 and informed us that he would not be accessible on December 23 due to an appointment with the Enforcement Directorate. On the 23rd, The Kochhars made an appearance “the officer said.
Rs 64-Crore Loan Never Repaid
A Limosin, the attorney for the CBI, said that the accused’s “non-cooperation” forced the agency to make the decision to arrest him. “Dhoot has made contradictory claims and hasn’t cooperated with the investigation.
Throughout the investigation, he has altered his story multiple times. He hadn’t given the case’s entire and accurate facts, “Limosin objected.
Furthermore, the Rs 64 crore loan made by Dhoot to Deepak Kochhar’s NuPowe was a fraud, according to the CBI investigation.
“The Rs 64 crore loan from a firm in the Videocon group to Kochhar’s company is one of the issues of contention between the three accused. It is not wise to pay a portion of the loan to someone and never expect it to be repaid, as was done by Dhoot with the Rs 300 crore loan he obtained from ICICI (Bank) “On the condition of anonymity, one of the people informed ET.
This is a typical example of bribery and nothing more than a quid pro quo deal.
Sources claim that Videocon Industries Ltd (VIL), a company connected to Dhoot, advanced Supreme Energy Private Ltd (SEPL) Rs 64 crore in September 2009. “It assigned this SEPL advance to its group firm Indian Refrigerator Company Ltd. in July 2011. (IRCL).
Real Appliances Pvt Ltd (RAPL), which later changed its name to Real Cleantech Pvt Ltd, received it from IRCL in August 2011. (RCPL). RCPL’s current status is listed as “struck off” in the Registrar of Companies documents, despite the fact that SEPL still owes the VIL group money “the individual added.
Initiated and promoted by Dhoot, SEPL was owned by Deepak Kochhar by 2012.
According to the investigation, “accounting entities were made in the books of SEPL, i.e. creation of a provisioning of Rs 32 lakh (for Rs 64 crore transferred by VIL in NRL through SEPL) and its reversal follows the pattern of events in ICICI Bank regarding the allegation/investigation against Chanda Kochhar,” said the person.
Venugopal Dhoot
Venugopal Dhoot, who was born on September 30, 1951, graduated from Pune University with a degree in electrical engineering and then quickly teamed up with his father, Nandlal Madhavlal Dhoot, who had started Videocon in 1985.
Under Venugopal Dhoot’s direction, the business made a reputation for itself in the marketplace and was one of the first companies to sell colour televisions in the nation.
At its height, Videocon operated a number of manufacturing facilities across India and even built facilities in nations like China, Mexico, Poland, and Italy. The company expanded into the telecommunications, oil, and power industries following its success in the electronics industry.
According to Forbes magazine, Dhoot had a net worth of over $1.19 billion in 2015, ranking him as the 61st richest person in India. The alleged cricket enthusiast industrialist even attempted to purchase the now-defunct Pune squad in the Indian Premier League (IPL) in 2010.
The company, however, came into financial difficulties in the middle of the 2010s, and as a result left the telecom industry by 2017 and saw its dominance in the consumer durables market wane as strong foreign competitors entered the market.
The allegations against Dhoot
According to the CBI, Dhoot allegedly paid Chanda Kochhar and her family kickbacks in exchange for loans for his Videocon firm. He allegedly spent Rs 64 crore in Deepak Kochhar’s NuPower Renewables through a variety of front businesses only months after obtaining a Rs 3,250 crore loan from the bank, when it was led by Chanda Kochhar between 2010 and 2012. The majority of the sum lent to Videocon became non-performing assets (NPAs).
The agency also charged Chanda Kochhar with abusing her position by aiding in the loan approval process. 2018 saw Kochhar’s forced resignation as the MD and CEO of the ICICI Bank, despite her denials of all the accusations.
A year later, the Kochhars, Dhoot, and companies like Nupower Renewables and Videocon Industries were all included in a FIR filed by the CBI for allegedly defrauding the ICICI Bank of Rs 1,730 crore. According to the complaint, Chanda Kochhar “sanctioned certain loans to private entities in a criminal conspiracy with other accused to deceive ICICI Bank,” which was filed under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections related to criminal conspiracy and provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
Additionally designated as defendants were Supreme Energy Pvt Ltd, Videocon International Electronics Ltd (VIEL), and unidentified governmental employees.
In this case, a CBI court has given the central agency custody of Venugopal Dhoot until December 28.
