On Thursday, a special CBI court in Mumbai sent former ICICI Bank CEO and MD Chanda Kochhar, her husband Deepak Kochhar and Videocon Group founder Venugopal Dhoot to 14-day judicial custody in a loan fraud case. The person who is at least partially responsible for this is whistleblower Arvind Gupta, who in 2016 took it upon himself to expose the alleged scam of over Rs 3,000 crore.
In letters addressed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Gupta accused the former MD and CEO of ICICI Bank of orchestrating the transactions.
“ICICI Bank looks like a one-man show. Chanda Kochhar is present in six of their nine committees. Their work culture needs to be probed,” he said in his letter.
In a recent interview with Moneycontrol, Gupta said that the arrest is only the “tip of the iceberg”.
Kochhar was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) last Friday. Dhoot was arrested on Monday.
The three were produced before Special Judge SH Gwalani at the end of their earlier remand on Thursday.
“The investigation has not yet identified the circle of officers of Chanda Kochhar. What has happened now is only preliminary and preliminary detention,” Gupta said.
Gupta said Dhoot’s agreeing to turn approver would “open Pandora’s box”. He also said many questions remain unanswered and will be resolved when the time comes. Why would a big corporate company form a joint venture with a banker’s husband, Gupta asked, referring to the former veteran banker’s husband.
In 2019, Gupta expressed satisfaction over the cases filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation against Kochhar.
“I think this is a good start to the investigation. It will have even deeper roots outside India as well. I want the government to see how few companies in India are getting money from abroad. Whose money is this? Chanda Kochhar is just the tip of the iceberg. The situation is the same in all banks. I think all corrupt bankers will now think 10 times before doing anything wrong,” Gupta said.