A Mumbai court on Tuesday rejected a bail plea of businessman and the husband of former ICICI Bank CEO, Deepak Kochhar, in a money laundering case.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had arrested him in September in the alleged ICICI Bank-Videocon money laundering case, under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

Special PMLA judge P P Rajvaidya rejected the `regular' bail application of Deepak Kochhar, filed on merits of the case as against technical grounds.

The court had dismissed his ‘default’ bail plea in November, filed on the ground that the ED had failed to file a charge sheet in the case within the stipulated period.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had registered an FIR against the Kochhars, Videocon Group promoter Venugopal Dhoot and others, pertaining to money laundering, following which the ED arrested Deepak.

The central agency slapped money laundering charges against the couple as well as their business entities for "illegal sanctioning of loans amounting to Rs 1,875 crore to the Videocon Group of companies".

“From a Rs 300 crore loan sanctioned by a committee headed by Chanda Kochhar to Videocon International Electronics Ltd, Videocon Industries Ltd transferred Rs 64 crore to Nupower Renewables Pvt Ltd (NRPL) on September 8, 2009, only a day after the disbursement of the loan by ICICI Bank,” the ED said.

“NRPL, earlier known as Nupower Renewables Ltd (NRL), is owned by Deepak Kochhar,” it informed.

A "net revenue of Rs 10.65 crore was generated by NRL from these tainted funds...Therefore, proceeds of crime amounting to Rs 74.65 crore were transferred to or generated in NRPL," the ED further alleged.