Income Tax Department sends second notice to Deepak Kochhar

The Income Tax (IT) Department on Monday sent a second notice to ICICI Bank Chief Chanda Kochhar's husband, Deepak Kochhar, amid the ongoing loan deal involving Videocon Group and the private lender.

A senior official from the IT department told ANI on the condition of anonymity that the department sent the notice seeking an explanation from Deepak Kochhar on his personal income, under Section 139 (9) of the Income Tax Act. The official further stated that a response is expected from Deepak within the next 15 days.

The official also noted that the Foreign Tax division of the IT department wrote to Mauritius tax authorities seeking details of ownership of DH Renewables Holding Ltd., a major shareholder in NuPower Renewables, a joint venture between Videocon Group Chief Venugopal Dhoot and Deepak Kochhar.

For those unversed, media reports earlier in March highlighted an alleged involvement of Chanda Kochhar and her family members in a Rs.3,250 crore loan provided to the Videocon group on quid pro quo basis in 2012.

Soon after, Indian Investors Protection Council Trustee Arvind Gupta said the evidence in the case pointed out that Chanda Kochhar was herself a beneficiary of the loan, and her husband is an indirect beneficiary of the loan granted to Videocon.

The IT department in the first week of April had sent a notice to NuPower Renewables.

Thereafter, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) called in a number of officials for questioning in the aforementioned case, including Umanath Venkat Naik, the director of NuPower Renewables, the former director of NuPower Renewables, Mahesh Pugalia, and Rajeev Kochhar, the brother-in-law of Chanda Kochhar.

(ANI)