A division bench of the Bombay High Court has held that the arrest of Chanda Kochhar, the former MD & CEO of ICICI Bank, and her husband Deepak Kochhar by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on December 23, 2022 was “illegal’’ and an “abuse of power” done without application of mind and due regard for the law.

The high court also observed that the contention of the agency that the Kochhars have not been co-operating is baseless and even otherwise, they have the right to remain silent.

Further their “silence cannot be construed as non-cooperation’’.

The Kochhars were arrested by the CBI on December 23, 2022, in connection with the Videocon-ICICI Bank loan case. They had challenged the arrest in the high court, asserting its illegality and seeking bail.

While the 32-page judgment was made public on Monday, the bench comprising Justices Anuja Prabhudessai (since retired) and N.R. Borkar said that the first information report (FIR) against the Kochhars was registered in 2019 and that they were summoned for questioning only in 2022.

“Despite the gravity of the offence, the petitioners (Kochhar’s) were not interrogated or summoned for a period of over three years from the date of registration of the crime,” it said.