Deepak Kochhar moves HC for quashing of ED’s FIR; Challenges his “illegal” arrest

Source:-https://economictimes.indiatimes.com

NEW DELHI: Deepak Kochhar, the businessman husband of former ICICI chief Chanda Kochhar, has moved the Delhi High Court seeking quashing of a money-laundering case registered against him by the Enforcement Directorate.

Kochhar alleged that the ED had not followed the procedure prescribed under law, and a copy of the FIR had not been given to him till date. He claimed that the agency had so far also not supplied any grounds of his arrest, which he said was “illegal”.

Senior lawyer Mukul Rohatgi and advocate Vijay Aggarwal represented Kochhar in the high court on Thursday.

His petition said the ECIR (Enforcement Case Information Report, which is equivalent of an FIR) dated January 31, 2019 was not a “privileged document but a public document”.

The high court issued notices to the ED, seeking its response to the petition. The court also sought a status report on the interim bail sought by Kochhar.

The ED has opposed Kochhar’s petition, arguing that it was not maintainable in the Delhi High Court.

After his arrest on September 7, the agency had produced Kochhar before a Mumbai court, seeking his custody.

In his petition, Kochhar said the ED should have only taken a transit remand from Mumbai as it was acquiesced to the jurisdiction of Delhi. Kochhar’s petition, accessed by ET, says also the FIR against him was registered in New Delhi and the entire investigation had also been conducted in the capital.

He claimed that he had cooperated with the investigation and was constrained in furnishing information sought by the ED due to Covid-19 related restrictions.

He has sought directions to the ED to not issue any press release over pending investigation. He also wants the ED to withdraw a January 10 press release.

Kochhar has also sought setting aside of “ex parte mechanical remand”.

ET last month reported that a Mumbai court had shifted Kochhar to judicial custody, on a request by the ED after the businessman in its custody tested positive for Covid-19.

The Mumbai court had remanded Kochhar in the ED’s custody till September 19 for interrogation. He tested positive for the infection on September 14 and the agency admitted him to AIIMS in New Delhi for treatment.

Since this meant losing out time granted by the court to interrogate him, the ED sought his treatment in judicial custody so that it could get his custody back once he recovered from the disease.

While the court accepted the plea to shift the custody to judicial from police, it ordered on September 14 that he be produced before it within two days of testing negative and his discharge from hospital “for further necessary order”.

The federal agency is probing a money-laundering case against the businessman and his wife. The case is linked to alleged quid pro quo in loan transactions between ICICI Bank and the Videocon NSE 3.92 % Group.

Besides the ED, the Central Bureau of Investigation is also investigating the alleged quid pro quo deal.

The CBI has accused Chanda Kochhar of receiving “illegal gratification” from Videocon through her husband for sanctioning a term loan of Rs 300 crore. The ED had registered the money laundering case last February after the CBI booked the Kochhars and Venugopal Dhoot of Videocon.

The Kochhars and Dhoot have denied all the allegations.

During her questioning by the ED last year, Chanda Kochhar had denied any wrongdoing and said the approval by ICICI Bank to give loan was a collective decision and not that of an individual.