The alleged nexus between ICICI Bank MD and CEO Chanda Kochhar’s husband Deepak Kochhar and Videocon group chairman Venugopal Dhoot has come under the CBI’s scanner.Sources said the investigative agency has registered a preliminary enquiry (PE) into the matter. The CBI will now probe into allegations that Dhoot pumped money into a firm promoted by Deepak Kochhar and two relatives six months after ICICI Bank sanctioned a Rs 3,250 crore loan to the Videocon group in 2012. This was part of the Rs 40,000 crore loan extended to the group by a consortium of 20 banks.The allegations are that in 2010, Dhoot gave Rs 64 crore through NuPower Renewables Pvt Ltd (NRPL), a firm that he had set up with Deepak Kochhar and two of his relatives. It is alleged that he transferred proprietorship of the company to a trust owned by Deepak Kochhar for Rs 9 lakh six months after the country’s biggest private sector bank approved the loan to the Videocon group.Sources said the PE, which was registered a month ago on the basis of information received, has not named Chanda Kochhar but a reference is, nevertheless, made to “unknown bank officials.”The dealings between Chanda Kochhar’s husband and Dhoot have snowballed into a controversy over alleged “conflict of interest. Credit: Reuters/Francis Mascarenhas/FilesA PE is the first step to investigate an alleged act of corruption or fraud. The CBI will now see if there is prima facie criminality that will require registration of an FIR. If the investigators conclude that there is not enough evidence to register a case, the PE is closed with approval from the CBI director.The agency can file a PE on the basis of a complaint, on the directions of central or state governments or courts and also on its “source information report (SIR)”. There is no time limit to complete a PE.Sources said Deepak Kochhar and Dhoot, along with “unknown” officials of ICICI Bank and other banks in the lending consortium, will be called for examination soon. A decision on whether to call Chanda Kochhar will be taken only after examination of documents, sources added.The CBI has collected documents related to the Rs 40,000-crore loan as well as documents related to the setting up of NRPL by Deepak Kochhar and Dhoot.ICICI Bank’s board has come out in support of Chanda Kocchar, saying it has full faith and confidence in her. It also rubbished suggestion that there was a quid pro quo in the loans given to Videocon.The dealings between Deepak Kochhar and Dhoot have snowballed into a controversy over alleged “conflict of interest”, with a whistleblower accusing Chanda Kochhar of misusing her position to promote her spouse’s business.Dhoot has clarified that his investment in Supreme Energy— the company alleged to have invested in Deepak Kochhar-promoted NuPower Renewables — was only in thousands of rupees and a temporary one.He said that no Videocon group company had funded NuPower when he was an investor in Supreme Energy.