The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday assured the Supreme Court that it would not take any coercive action against former ICICI Bank CEO and MD Chanda Kochhar in a money laundering case. A bench headed by Justice S K Kaul was informed by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta that the ED would not take any coercive step in pursuance of the ECIR registered in the ICICI Bank-Videocon Group loan case.
The bench, also comprising Justices Dinesh Maheshwari and Hrishikesh Roy, said it would also hear the two other petitions filed by Chanda Kochhar challenging the arrest of her husband Deepak Kochhar in connection to the same case.
The ED recently filed a chargesheet against Kochhar, Deepak Kochhar and Videocon Group promoter Venugopal Dhoot on money laundering charges. The Kochhars, Dhoot and others involved in the case have denied all allegations, official sources said.
According to officials the chargesheet or the prosecution complaint in the case has been filed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) before a special court in Mumbai.
The central probe agency had arrested Deepak Kochhar in September after it filed a criminal case based on money laundering charges after studying an FIR registered by the CBI against the Kochhars, Dhoot and others. The ED has slapped money laundering charges against the Kochhars and their business entities for "illegal sanctioning of loans amounting to Rs 1,875 crore to the Videocon Group of companies".
