A day after SP Sudhanshu Dhar Mishra signed the order booking former ICICI MD and CEO Chanda Kochhar, her husband Deepak Kochhar and Videocon Group’s VN Dhoot for cheating and conspiracy, he was transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI’s) Economic Offences Branch in Ranchi on January 23, Wednesday. He was a part of the Banking and Securities Fraud Cell (BSFC) of CBI in Delhi, the Indian Express reported.
Union Minister Arun Jaitley also criticised the officer on Twitter by calling his act “investigative adventurism” on January 25, Friday. Finance Minister Piyush Goyal and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman retweeted Jaitley’s comments showing their support for Kochhar.
The Supreme Court judgment upholding the validity of the IBC is a welcome decision. The Bank defaulters cannot get away for long.
— Arun Jaitley (@arunjaitley) January 25, 2019
The upholding of the provisions that bar the defaulting promoters from bidding is both ethical and proper – otherwise the defaulter will continue to manage the company with only the banks taking a haircut.
— Arun Jaitley (@arunjaitley) January 25, 2019
Investigative Adventurism Vs. Professional Investigation https://t.co/FUhJh5Ws29
— Arun Jaitley (@arunjaitley) January 25, 2019
Sitting thousands of kilometers away, when I read the list of potential targets in the ICICI case, the thought that crossed my mind was again the same – Instead of focusing primarily on the target, it is a journey to no where (everywhere).
— Arun Jaitley (@arunjaitley) January 25, 2019
Professional investigation targets the real accused on the basis of actual and admissible evidences. It rules out fanciful presumptions. There is no personal malice or corruption. It targets the guilty and protects the innocent.
— Arun Jaitley (@arunjaitley) January 25, 2019
Professional investigation targets the guilty & protects the innocent. It secures convictions and furthers public interest. One of the reasons why our conviction rates are poor is that adventurism and megalomania overtakes our investigators and professionalism takes a back seat.
— Arun Jaitley (@arunjaitley) January 25, 2019
My advice to our investigators – avoid adventurism and follow the advice given to Arjun in the Mahabharata – Just concentrate on the bulls eye.
— Arun Jaitley (@arunjaitley) January 25, 2019
Rajya Sabha MP Anand Sharma slammed Jaitley and called his remarks an act to “rebuke” and “threaten” the agency.
“His statement is extraordinary. It is a clear signal to the CBI to go slow. It also smacks of double standards which, of course, is not new for him. He called Vodafone (case) tax terrorism and then did exactly the same thing in regard to Cairn. He calls ICICI case investigative adventurism yet does exactly the same in regard to his predecessor,” Express quoted Jaitley as saying.
Chanda Kochhar was under scanner after March 29, 2018, the Indian Express report cited that Videocon’s Dhoot provided crores of rupees to a firm he had set up with her husband Deepak Kochhar and two relatives six months after the Videocon Group got Rs 3,250 crore as loan from ICICI Bank in 2012.
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