A Delhi court on Thursday accepted a closure report filed by the CBI in an alleged case of irregularities by ICICI Bank in accepting loan repayment from NDTV, saying "it appeared to be satisfactory".

Special judge Shailender Malik accepted the closure report after going through the report, and the submissions made by the CBI, and the complainant in the case, who said he did not want to file any protest petition being satisfied with the investigation.

"Upon going through entire closure report, documents annexed with the same coupled with submissions made by public prosecutor for CBI as well as statement given by the complainant to the effect that he is satisfied with the investigation of CBI in the present case, this court accepts the closure report...as no criminality or violation of Section 19(2) of Banking Regulation Act, 1949 has been found by any of the accused persons. Therefore closure report appears to be satisfactory and hence it is accepted," the judge said.

The closure report was submitted last year after its six-year-long probe did not find any irregularities in the transactions between the ICICI Bank and former NDTV promoters Prannoy Roy and Radhika Roy on the ground that there was no element of criminality or violation of law.

The CBI claimed in the report that there was no collusion or criminal conspiracy or abuse of official position by any public servant or officers of ICICI bank.

The case was lodged on a complaint from Sanjay Dutt of Quantum Securities Limited, who alleged that the ICICI Bank sanctioned a loan of Rs 375 crore in 2008 against the entire 61 per cent shareholding of the NDTV promoters as collateral.

In 2022, the Adani Group acquired a controlling stake in NDTV, purchasing shares from the Roys at a premium of nearly 17 per cent over the price paid to the minority shareholders.

The CBI, which filed its closure report in October last year, also said the reduction of the rate of interest for NDTV was not a "one-off incident".

The repayment of the loan at the reduced interest rate was "higher than the average cost of funds", the federal agency said.

The CBI also found a forensic audit of the case conducted by Pramod Kumar and Associates, which described the repayment as a "normal business transaction and closure of loan", with no violation of the Banking Regulation Act.

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