Look out circulars have been issued to all airports against CEO of ICICI bank, Chanda Kochhar, her husband and businessman Deepak Kochhar and promoter of the Videocon group of companies, Venugopal Dhoot. A look out circular (LOC) ensures that the person concerned cannot leave an airport without informing the authorities first.

The LOC was sent at the behest of the CBI which last week filed a preliminary enquiry case against Deepak Kochhar and Venugopal Dhoot. Rajiv Kochhar, brother of Deepak Kochhar and promoter of Avista Advisory Services, was detained at Mumbai airport when he was leaving for Singapore for a business trip.

The pre-emptive move on the part of the investigative agency comes in the wake of a series of economic offenders fleeing the country. Nirav Modi refused to return to India from Hong Kong despite repeated notices by the CBI, Income Tax department and the Enforcement Directorate. Lalit Modi has invested millions of pounds to get a residency status in the UK and Vijay Mallya is digging his heels in, also in the UK. Arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari is also believed to be in the UK.

It was enough grist for the Opposition to attack the government for allowing 'chhota Modi' to escape. The Prime Minister's Office is closely monitoring investigations into banking frauds and non-performing assets of. The $2 billion PNB scam involving Nirav Modi and Gitanjali Jewels happened mostly under the NDA's watch and was followed by the ICICI bank Videocon deal under the CBI scanner.

This time around, the CBI isn't taking chances. CBI sources however have not confirmed whether the LOC issued is for Rajiv Kochhar as well. The estranged brother of Deepak Kochhar was questioned for the second day on Friday for his links with Videocon group of companies as well as the now defunct Videocon Petroleum. Avista Advisory, promoted by Rajiv Kochhar, has admitted that it did business with Videocon, but that was several years ago. Avista and ICICI bank have said they have no business links with each other.

The CBI is investigating whether Venugopal Dhoot is the promoter of Mauritius-based company DH Holding Renewables Limited that invested in NuPower Renewables, a company promoted by Deepak Kochhar.

The allegation is that each time ICICI bank gave a loan to the Videocon group (Rs 3,250 crore and Rs 660 crore), a corresponding sum of Rs 325 crore and Rs 66 crore was invested by this Mauritius firm into NuPower Renewable.

Dhoot had initially started NuPower along with Kochhar as a 50-50 partnership and later sold his stake to Kochhar. The timeframe for this deal was December 2008 to April 2012. Chanda Kochhar was appointed CEO of ICICI bank in May 2009.

When asked by India Today about whether she had declared her relationship with Videocon to the RBI board, ICICI chose to skirt the question.

Also Read : Inviting Videocon's Venugopal Dhoot into NuPower one of my biggest mistakes: Deepak Kochhar

Also Read : CBI grills ICICI Banks CEO Chanda Kochhars brother-in-law Rajeev Kochhar

VIDEO | ICICI CEO Chanda Kochhar accused of conflict of interest

