Income Tax issues notice to Deepak Kochhar in Videocon loan case

The Income Tax Department has issued a notice to Deepak Kochhar, husband of ICICI bank MD and CEO Chanda Kochhar, in connection with its ongoing tax evasion probe in the Videocon bank loan case, an official said on Tuesday.

Through the notice sent last week, an official said, he has been asked to furnish details of his personal finances, Income Tax Returns (ITRs) for the last few years and business transactions with Videocon.

The official said few more notices were served last week to other people having association with the firm. "Further action will be taken based on their replies."

Meanwhile, sources in the CBI said Deepak Kochhar will be called for questioning soon.

The CBI has named him in its preliminary enquiry registered last week and had also questioned a few ICICI bank officials as part of the probe to find if any quid pro quo was involved in the bank issuing a Rs 3,250 crore loan to the Videocon Group in 2012.

The deal recently made news after reports questioned the loan and linked it to a possible quid pro quo that Videocon group promoter Venugopal Dhoot allegedly had with NuPower Renewables, a company founded by Deepak.

In its preliminary enquiry -- a precursor before lodging an FIR -- the CBI had named Dhoot, Deepak Kochhar and unidentified others.

--IANS

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