ICICI Bank-Videocon loan case: CBI officer, who signed FIR against Chanda Kochhar and others, transferred

Sudhanshu Dhar Mishra has now been transferred to the Economic Offences Branch of CBI in Ranchi, Jharkhand.

NEW DELHI: Sudhanshu Dhar Mishra, who was posted as SP of Banking and Securities Fraud Cell of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), has now been transferred to the central probe agency's Economic Offences Branch in Ranchi, Jharkhand. 

Mishra had signed the FIR against former ICICI Bank chief Chanda Kochhar, Deepak Kochhar, VN Dhoot and others on January 22 in connection with the ICICI-Videocon bank loan case.

Meanwhile, two other senior CBI officers were also transferred by the government, news agency ANI reported.

According to ANI, Biswajit Das, the SP, Economic Offences Branch of CBI in Kolkata has been transferred and posted as SP of Banking and Securities Fraud Cell of CBI, Delhi. 

Sudip Roy, SP, CBI, Economic Offences Branch-IV, Kolkata has been transferred and posted as SP, CBI Economic Offences Branch in Kolkata.

The reshuffling of top CBI officers by the government came two days after the CBI registered a case against Chanda Kochhar, former MD & CEO of ICICI Bank, her husband Deepak Kochhar, VN Dhoot, MD of Videocon Group and others in the alleged ICICI Bank-Videocon loan case.

According to the CBI, the accused in the ICICI Bank-Videocon loan case had committed alleged irregularities to the tune of Rs 3,250 crore.

Videocon promoter Venugopal Dhoot allegedly invested crores of Rupees in Nupower, co-founded by Deepak Kochhar, months after the Videocon group got Rs 3,250 crore as loan from the ICICI Bank in 2012.

On Thursday, the central probe agency carried out searches at multiple locations, including the offices of Videocon group in Mumbai and Aurangabad, offices of Nupower Renewables Pvt Limited which is operated by Deepak Kochhar, and Supreme Energy after registering a case. 

As per SEBI's preliminary probe conducted earlier, Deepak Kochhar had many business dealings with the Videocon Group over the past several years. 

Deepak and Videocon chief Venugopal Dhoot were also the co-founders and promoters of NuPower, besides other associations.

In March 2018, CBI had registered a preliminary enquiry (PE) against Videocon promoter Dhoot, Deepak Kochhar and unidentified others. 

A PE is a precursor before the agency lodges an FIR to probe criminal charges on the basis of evidence collected during the former exercise.