Chanda Kochhar was on CBI radar even before PNB scam broke

NEW DELHI: The CBI, which first received a complaint into the affairs of Chanda Kochhar from whistleblower Arvind Gupta in October 2016, had initiated an enquiry on December 8, 2017, almost two months before the Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam involving Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi came to light.

It turns out that the CBI chose to keep it under wraps as it can question suspects or collect documents during a preliminary enquiry (PE) but raids cannot be conducted. Also, only Kochhar’s husband Deepak Kochhar and Videocon MD Venugopal Dhoot were named in the PE and the agency wanted to be sure about her role.

Earlier, it was being speculated that Kochhar came on the radar following the Nirav Modi scam when the government started looking at irregularities in public and private sector banks.

After the allegations came out in public domain on March 31, 2018, when TOI reported the registration of a PE, ICICI Bank issued statements backing Kochhar.

With Kochhar still at the helm of affairs, ICICI Bank claimed it reposed “full faith” in her and there was no question or scope of any favoritism, nepotism or quid pro quo in the lender’s loans to Videocon.