In a major setback to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the Bombay High Court has granted interim relief to former managing director and chief executive officer of ICICI Bank Chanda Kochhar and her husband Deepak. The court held that their arrest was not done in accordance with provisions of the law and ordered their release. The court mentioned that the arrest of Kochhars was in violation of Section 41A of the Code of Criminal Procedure which mandates that a warrant be served asking the person to appear before the police.

The court also referred to the arrest memo produced by the CBI which mentions that the grounds of arrest were that the accused was named in the FIR and had not been cooperating with cops by not disclosing true and full facts of the case. The HC bench stated that the reasons mentioned in the memo do not satisfy the mandate laid down by the Supreme Court under Sections 41 and 41 A of the CrPC.