The Kochhars get bail, with HC saying the arrests were in clear breach of the mandatory provisions

While granting bail to former ICICI bank CEO Chanda Kochhar and her husband Deepak Kochhar, the Bombay High Court rightly said, “What was the reason to arrest the petitioners after four years is not spelt out in the arrest memos, as mandated. The ground for arrest of the petitioners mentioned in the arrest memos is in clear breach of the mandatory provisions.” The court went on to say that just because “an accused does not confess, it cannot be said that the accused have not cooperated with the investigation.” The Central Bureau of Investigation had arrested the couple on December 23. It speaks poorly about a law-enforcement agency if it has to depend on the confession of the accused to make its case in a court of law. Unfortunately, a lot of investigation depends on confession, which is often obtained by means that are not very nice. Cops euphemistically call it ‘sakhti se puchhtachh’ (tough interrogation). This mostly happens when the accused are not educated or well-off; the underclass often ends up facing sakhti se puchhtachh. The Kochhars are not from that section of society. The CBI has accused them and Videocon Group Chairman Venugopal Dhoot of corruption and conspiracy. According to the CBI, ICICI Bank under Chanda Kochhar sanctioned a loan of Rs 3,250 crore to Videocon companies violating the Banking Regulation Act, RBI guidelines, and ICICI’s credit policy. As quid pro quo, Dhoot invested Rs 64 crore in Deepak Kochhar’s Nupower Renewables in a circuitous manner. All these charges may be true, but that would be adjudicated by the court. At any rate, the CBI cannot force the accused to confess and implicate themselves.

The Bombay HC also questioned the timing of the Kochhars’ arrest, coming as it did weeks before their son’s wedding on January 15. Perhaps they were arrested not in spite of but because of the wedding. It was reportedly planned as a destination wedding, with all the attendant glittering celebrations that one expects from such a high-profile event. After all, Chanda Kochhar was a corporate celebrity not a long ago. A couple accused of corporate fraud having a nice time with the rich and the powerful (that was also expected in such a wedding) would not have been good optics for the CBI or its political bosses. But the point is that the premier investigating agency should be bothered about cracking corruption cases, not optics. We commented earlier that the arrest of the Kochhars and Dhoot made no sense. The arrests did not satisfy the conditions laid down by the Supreme Court. For the alleged scam is four years’ old; in this period, they would have already tampered with evidence and influenced or intimidated witnesses. In other words, the arrests were carried out because of reasons not related to the investigation. This leaves a bad odour all around; this frightens businesspersons. This is certainly not how we attract investment in the country.