The CBI on Friday arrested former ICICI Bank CEO and MD Chanda Kochhar and her husband Deepak Kochhar in connection with alleged cheating and irregularities in loans sanctioned by the bank to Videocon Group companies, officials said.

They said the Kochhars were called to the agency headquarters and arrested after brief questioning. The CBI has alleged that they were evasive in their responses and did not co-operate in the investigation.

The Kochhars will be produced before a special CBI court on Saturday.

They are likely to be kept in separate lockups on the ground floor of the 11-storeyed agency headquarters after their medical examination.

Sources said that agency is likely to move at a swift pace to file the first charge sheet in the case in which the Kochhars could be named along with Venugopal Dhoot of Videocon Group.

The CBI had named the Kochhars and Dhoot, along with companies Nupower Renewables managed by Deepak Kochhar, Supreme Energy, Videocon International Electronics Ltd and Videocon Industries Limited, as accused in the FIR registered under IPC sections related to criminal conspiracy and provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act in 2019.

The CBI had alleged that ICICI Bank had sanctioned credit facilities to the tune of Rs 3,250 crore to the companies of Videocon Group in violation of the Banking Regulation Act.

It was also alleged that as a part of the quid pro quo, Dhoot made an investment of Rs 64 crore in Nupower through Supreme Energy (SEPL) and transferred SEPL to PinnacleEnergy Trust managed by Deepak Kochhar through a circuitous route between 2010 and 2012.