Former ICICI Bank head Chanda Kocchar, her husband Deepak Kochhar and Videocon group founder Venugopal Dhoot will remain in CBI custody till Thursday.

A special CBI court on Wednesday extended the duration of their custody till December 29 in connection with loans given by ICICI Bank to Videocon group firms during Kochhar’s tenure as MD and CEO of the bank.

While the probe agency had arrested the Kocchars last Friday, Dhoot was arrested on Monday. All of them were produced before special judge S.M. Menjoge at the end of their earlier remand on Wednesday.

The CBI, represented by special public prosecutor A. Limosin, sought their custody for another two days for further probe into the case. After hearing both the sides, the court extended the custody of the Kochhars and Dhoot till December 29.

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

The CBI has alleged that ICICI Bank had sanctioned credit facilities of Rs 3,250 crore to companies of the Videocon Group promoted by Dhoot in violation of the Banking Regulation Act, Reserve Bank of India guidelines and the credit policy of the bank. The agency alleged that a sanctioning committee headed by Chanda Kochhar in 2009 approved a term loan of Rs 300 crore to Videocon International in contravention of the rules and policies of the bank by abusing her official position as a public servant.

On Tuesday, the Bombay High Court had refused to grant an urgent hearing requested by the Kochhars who had said the arrest by the CBI was illegal. However, the vacation bench comprising Justice Madhav Jamdar and Justice S.G. Chapalgaonkar did not give them any interim relief, and it asked them to mention the matter before the regular bench once it resumes after vacation.

During the hearing, the counsel for the Kochhars said that the arrest by the CBI was carried after four years which is a violation of Section 41A (notice of appearance before police officer) of the Code of Criminal Procedure. He also sought the quashing of FIR.