CBI court rejects interim relief to Venugopal Dhoot

A Special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court here Thursday rejected the application filed by arrested businessman Venugopal Dhoot who argued his arrest as ‘illegal’ and sought an interim relief.

Dhoot’s counsel Sandeep Ladda said he’ll will now challenge the order before the Bombay High Court.

Dhoot, along with terminated ICICI MD & CEO Chanda Kocchar and her husband Deepak, have been arrested by the CBI in connection with the over Rs 1800 crore loans sanctioned by ICICI to Videocon group of companies when Chanda was at the helm of the bank.


All the three are currently in judicial custody. While Dhoot and Deepak are lodged at Mumbai’s Arthur Road jail, Chanda is lodged at women’s prison in Byculla.

Advocate Ladda had argued that Dhoot had cooperated both with the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate since the inception of the case. ED launched a money laundering probe against the accused based on CBI’s FIR.

“ED has already completed its investigation and filed a chargesheet without arresting Dhoot due to his consistent cooperation. The accused is on bail in the same offence,” Ladda argued.

Meanwhile the CBI is likely to file its argument on Friday before the Bombay HC against the plea moved by the Kochhar’s declaring their arrest illegal. The HC is scheduled to hear the matter.