Chanda Kochhar, the former CEO and MD of ICICI Bank, was on Friday granted bail by a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court here in connection with the ICICI Bank-Videocon money laundering case.

The special court for PMLA had last month summoned Kochhar, her husband Deepak Kochhar, Videocon Group promoter Venugopal Dhoot and others accused in the case after taking cognisance of the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) chargesheet. Accordingly, Chanda Kochhar appeared before special court judge A. A. Nandgoankar.

After her appearance, her lawyer Vijay Agarwal filed her bail application. A PTI report said the court allowed the same on a bond of Rs 5 lakh.

The ED had arrested her husband Deepak Kochhar in September 2020 after it filed a criminal case for money laundering against the Kochhars, Dhoot and others.

Earlier this month, the special court had held that the material submitted by the ED is sufficient to proceed with a trial for money laundering against Chanda Kochhar and others.

“After going through the submissions, it appears that Chanda Kochhar had misused her official position in granting loan to accused Dhoot and/or Videocon group companies.... And (it appears) she got illegal gratification through her husband through various companies for siphoning off money,” the judge had said.

The ED had earlier alleged that Rs 64 crore out of a loan of Rs 300 crore sanctioned by a committee of ICICI Bank headed by Chanda Kochhar to Videocon International Electronics Ltd was transferred to Nupower Renewables Pvt Ltd by Videocon on September 8, 2009, a day after the disbursement of loan.