ED files first chargesheet against Kochars, Dhoot in ICICI Bank money laundering case

The chargesheet was filed ahead of the expiry of Deepak Kochhar's 60 days custody on November 8. He was arrested on September 8 on the charges of money laundering under Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

Last year, the ED had filed a criminal case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) Chanda Kochhar, her husband and Venugopal Dhoot of Videocon Group to investigate alleged irregularities and corrupt practices in sanctioning Rs 1,875 crore in loans by ICICI Bank.

The probe agency had also attached assets worth Rs. 78 crore in connection with a money laundering case.

According to reports, Dhoot had provided Rs 64 crore to a firm called NuPower Renewables Pvt Ltd that he had set up with Deepak and two relatives six months after the Videocon group got Rs 3,250 crore as loan from ICICI Bank in 2012.

ED is also investigating irregularities in loans disbursed to  Essar Steel Minnesota during 2010-2011, Sterling Biotech which has defaulted in loans of Rs 8000 crore and Bhushan Steel and Power Ltd, according to the Mint report.

While probing Essar Steel, ED learned that Ravi Ruia's son-in-law Nishant Kanodia  had invested Rs 300 crore in Nu Power through first-hand holding and Mauritius based Matrix Pvt Ltd, the report added.

Sterling and Bhushan are being probed separately by both ED and CBI, it said.