ICICI loan case: CBI questions Chanda Kochhar's brother-in-law for 3rd day

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) continued questioning Rajiv Kocchar, brother-in-law of ICICI Bank MD and CEO Chanda Kochhar, for the third consecutive day on Saturday in connection with a case relating to Rs 32.5 billion loan to the Videocon Group in 2012.

Officials said that he was being questioned at the CBI's Bandra office.

According to the agency officials, Rajiv was asked about the role of his Singapore-based company Avista Advisory in the restructuring of loan.

The agency officials said he was also asked about the help he extended to Videocon in securing the loan from the ICICI Bank, which was part of a Rs 400 billion credit given by a consortium of 20 banks, led by the State Bank of India, to the Videocon Group owned by Venugopal Dhoot.

The CBI on Thursday and Friday, too, questioned Rajiv for hours in connection with the case.

He was on Thursday stopped at Mumbai airport by immigration authorities around 11 a.m when he was about to leave for Singapore.

Later, he was handed over to a CBI team which brought him to its Bandra office for questioning as part of its preliminary probe against his brother Deepak Kochhar and Videocon Chairman Venugopal Dhoot.

The agency had registered a preliminary inquiry against Chanda Kochhar's husband Deepak Kochhar, Videocon Group officials and others to determine any wrongdoing or otherwise in the sanction of loan to the Group by the ICICI Bank as part of the consortium of banks in 2012.

Chanda Kochhar, who is facing questions of conflict of interest in the case, has not been named in the preliminary inquiry, which was registered after news reports raised questions about the Videocon Chairman giving loan of Rs 640 million to a firm he had jointly promoted with Deepak Kochhar, six months after his group got the Rs 32.50 billion loan.

Sources said Chanda Kochhar's husband Deepak Kochhar and Videocon Chief Venugopal Dhoot could also called for questioning after examining documents of the loan and statements.