Videocon group promoter Venugopal Dhoot on Friday appeared before a court in Mumbai in the alleged ICICI Bank-Videocon money laundering case, and was granted bail.
Starting with a family, which had a dealership of Bajaj Auto's scooters, to becoming the owner of a household name in consumer appliances who could afford to have Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan as the brand ambassador, Venugopal Dhoot's is a story of an aggressive small town businessman's pursuit to be on the top. Now arrested in connection with the ICICI Bank loan fraud case, Venugopal Dhoot during his heydays was not the one to simply sit on small achievements like Videocon becoming the largest television set manufacturer in India.
The agency has registered the FIR after a preliminary enquiry on a complaint from the oil ministry.
Dhoot stated that Value Industries has not withdrawn the application and has only sought clarifications from RBI on certain issues.
The Bombay high court on Tuesday directed the Central Bureau of Investigation to file by Friday its affidavit in response to a petition of Videocon Group founder Venugopal Dhoot, seeking to quash an FIR registered in a bank loan fraud case, to declare his arrest as "arbitrary and illegal" and to be released on bail. When the plea came up for hearing, advocate Kuldeep Patil asked for one-week time to seek instructions on the same. A division bench of Justices Revati Mohite Dere and P K Chavan said the agency shall file its affidavit by Friday and posted the petition for hearing the same day (January 13).
The duo was called to the CBI headquarters Monday afternoon and questioned for over seven hours.
The CBI on Monday arrested Videocon group founder Venugopal Dhoot in connection with the ICICI Bank loan fraud case, officials said. The 71-year-old Dhoot was arrested from Mumbai, nearly three days after former CEO and MD of the ICICI Bank Chanda Kochhar and her husband Deepak Kochhar were taken into custody by the CBI, they said.
The group is among the 40 largest defaulters identified by the Reserve Bank's first list for insolvency in late 2016.
Markets regulator Sebi has ordered the attachment of bank and demat accounts as well as mutual fund holdings of Videocon Group founder Venugopal Dhoot to recover dues totalling Rs 5.16 lakh. The latest decision has been taken after Dhoot failed to pay the fine imposed on him in March by Sebi for not making disclosures about his interest in Supreme Energy as well as for not disclosing that Quality Techno Advisors Pvt Ltd (QTAPL) and Credential Finance Ltd (CFL) were related parties with respect to certain transactions. In an attachment notice on Monday, Sebi said the pending dues of Rs 5.16 lakh include the initial fine of Rs 5 lakh, interest of Rs 15,000 and a recovery cost of Rs 1,000.
A special court here on Thursday rejected Videocon founder Venugopal Dhoot's plea which claimed that his arrest by the Central Bureau of Investigation in the alleged loan fraud involving former ICICI Bank CEO and MD Chanda Kochhar was illegal. The CBI court also rejected applications of Chanda Kochhar and her husband Deepak Kochhar for home food, beds, mattresses and chairs. The court directed jail authorities to provide them diet food in consultation with the medical officer.
The settlement offer has been made for 13 out of the 15 Videocon group companies that are currently under Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process.
Videocon group has signed an agreement with West Bengal government to set up a steel plant and a power project in the state with total investment of about Rs 15,000 crore.Videocon, which already has interests in oil and gas, plans to establish a three million tonne steel plant and a 1,200 MW thermal power project in Asansol-Durgapur area in Burdwan district.
The agency has also named companies Nupower Renewables, 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 prevention of corruption act.
The notice, under provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act, has been issued by the Mumbai office of the agency after its probe found that the group has 'contravened' the law as it failed to comply with Reserve Bank of India norms by not declaring funds generated by some wholly owned subsidiaries the group had raised overseas few years back, according to ED sources.
In a communiqu to the Bombay Stock Exchange, the Rs 700-crore company said the Registrar of Companies, Maharashtra, approved the name change.
A special Central Bureau of Investigation court here on Wednesday extended till December 29 the CBI custody of former ICICI Bank CEO and MD Chanda Kochhar, her husband Deepak Kochhar and Videocon group founder Venugopal Dhoot in connection with a loan fraud case. The probe agency arrested Kochhars last Friday after questioning them briefly. Dhoot was arrested on Monday.
The Kochhars were arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) last Friday. Dhoot was arrested on Monday. The three were produced before special judge S H Gwalani at the end of their earlier remand on Thursday.
The lawyer of Videocon Group promoter Venugopal Dhoot on Friday argued before the Bombay high court that the industrialist's arrest in the ICICI Bank loan fraud case was unwarranted as he was cooperating with the probe. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), on the other hand, claimed that he was trying to avoid probe. Dhoot, arrested by the CBI on December 26, 2022, and presently in judicial custody, has moved the high court seeking to quash the First Information Report, and has also sought interim bail.
The Videocon group has expressed interest in buying telecom giant Motorola's struggling mobile handset business, which is being split into a separate company. "We have hired one of the world's top three investment bankers who will convey our interest to buy out the mobile handset business of the US company," Group Chairman Venugopal Dhoot told Business Standard.
Videocon Group on Monday said it was considering setting up a new manufacturing unit for consumer durables in Dubai.
Former ICICI Bank CEO and MD Chanda Kochhar was granted bail by a special PMLA court in Mumbai on Friday in connection with the ICICI Bank-Videocon money laundering case. The special court for Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) had on January 30 summoned Chanda Kochhar, her husband Deepak Kochhar, Videocon Group promoter Venugopal Dhoot and other accused in the case after taking cognisance of the Enforcement Directorate's (ED) charge sheet.
The operator is planning to turn aggressive in adding subscribers.
Videocon Industries Ltd will spend Rs 2,000 crore (Rs 20 billion) for oil exploration and production activities, including Rs 800 crore ($183 million) abroad as part of its business plans.
Videocon Group Chairman Venugopal Dhoot on Thursday clarified that the group would be paying Rs 950 crore (Rs 9.5 billion) to the Maharashtra government's town and industrial infrastructure subsidiary CIDCO for a 100-hectare plot in Navi Mumbai and not Rs 300 crore (Rs 3 billion) as claimed by some people.
Asked about rumours that the Chief Minister was holding talks with key investors on the Singur controversy, Dhoot said, "The CM calls me every three months to know the progress. The Videocon group was hopeful of land acquisition with its compensation package which includes land price, job assurance and equity in the project.
The Bombay high court on Thursday granted bail to Deepak Kochhar, husband of former ICICI Bank CEO Chanda Kochhar, in a money laundering case registered by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). Kocchar had approached the high court after a special court in Mumbai rejected his bail in December last year. Justice P D Naik of the high court granted bail to him on merits on Thursday.
The Videocon group would set up a BPO unit at Salt Lake, Kolkata, employing 25,000 people, its chairman Venugopal Dhoot said on Thursday.
The Bombay high court granted interim bail to Videocon Group founder Venugopal Dhoot on Friday, nearly a month after he was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the ICICI Bank-Videocon loan fraud case. A division bench of Justices Revati Mohite Dere and P K Chavan granted bail to Dhoot on a surety of Rs one lakh. The court permitted him to furnish cash bail and then deposit the surety amount two weeks thereafter.
The Videocon group, which signed a memorandum of agreement (MoA) with the West Bengal government for a Rs 15,000 crore (Rs 150 billion) steel and power project last month, has directly negotiated with land losers near Asansol for 2,000 acres.
The CBI has filed a charge sheet against former MD and CEO of ICICI Bank Chanda Kochhar, her husband Deepak Kochhar and Videocon Group founder Venugopal Dhoot in a Rs 3,250 crore loan fraud case, officials said on Saturday. The agency has filed the charge sheet under sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and 409 (criminal breach of trust) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, among others, they said. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has named nine entities, including companies and individuals, according to the officials.
Bankruptcy court NCLT on Tuesday allowed billionaire Anil Agarwal's Twin Star Technologies to take over Videocon Industries Ltd for about Rs 3,000 crore. Twin Star, a part of Vedanta Group, will pay around Rs 500 crore within 90 days as upfront payment and the rest as non-convertible debentures over a period of time. A two-member Mumbai bench of the NCLT comprising members - H P Chaturvedi and Ravikumar Duraisamy - approved the resolution plan by Twin-Star Technologies.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday told a special court here that it received a sanction from the ICICI Bank's board to prosecute Chanda Kochhar, the former CEO and MD of the bank, in connection with a case of alleged cheating and irregularities in loans sanctioned by the bank to Videocon Group companies. The probe agency, represented by special public prosecutor A Limosin, told the court that the board of ICICI Bank in a resolution passed on April 22 this year gave its sanction to the prosecution (against Kochhar), accepting that there seemed to be quid pro-quo.
Former ICICI Bank CEO and MD Chanda Kochhar and her husband Deepak Kochhar on Tuesday approached the Bombay high court, calling their arrest by the Central Bureau of Investigation in a loan fraud case illegal. The high court, however, refused to grant an urgent hearing and directed the Kochhars to mention the matter before the regular bench once it resumes after vacation. A lawyer representing the Kocchars said that no prior sanction, as required under the law, was obtained by the CBI before their arrest.
Kochhar is required to assist the investigating officer of the case in taking the probe forward and her statement will be recorded under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
In his statement to the Enforcement Directorate, Dhoot conceded that Rs 64 crore had been transferred to Deepak Kochhar's NuPower Renewables through a web of entities to allegedly acquire wind farm properties.
Rajiv Kochhar, who was asked to appear at the CBI office in Mumbai, was examined about the loan and his links with Venugopal Dhoot, the promoter of the Videocon Group, and Videocon.
Videocon launched an app-powered air conditioner.
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