Former ICICI CEO Chanda Kochhar, her husband Deepak Kochhar released from Byculla prison

Former ICICI Bank CEO and MD Chanda Kochhar and her husband Deepak Kochhar were released from jail, a day after the Bombay High Court granted them interim bail in a loan fraud case, a police official said.

Chanda Kochhar walked out of the Byculla women's prison in Mumbai, while her husband was released from the Arthur Road jail, the official said. The CBI arrested Kochhars on December 23, 2022 in connection with the Videocon-ICICI Bank loan case. The couple had filed petitions in the Bombay High Court challenging their arrest, terming it as illegal and arbitrary.

The Bombay High Court, while allowing interim relief to the former ICICI Bank CEO and MD and her husband, observed that it is incumbent upon the police not only to record reasons for arrest in writing but, even in cases, where the police choose not to arrest.“It is also incumbent on courts to satisfy themselves that there is due compliance of Sections 41 and 41-A, failing which, the same will ensure the benefit of the person suspected of the offence, entitling the person to be released on bail,” the court observed further. The order further read that there must be a direct nexus or live link between the material before the officer and the formation of his belief. Thus, there must be a rational connection between the two.