Facing allegations of witch-hunting and acting under pressure, the CBI on Tuesday said such charges were an attempt to malign its image. It also sought to clarify that the "CBI has not conducted any search of registered office of NDTV, media studio, news room or premises connected with media operations" and that agency fully respects the freedom of press and is committed to the free functioning of news operations".
Giving details of the issue, the CBI said it has registered the case based on the complaint of a share holder of ICICI bank and NDTV after carrying out due diligence.
"Denigrating the allegations at this stage of investigation and wrongly accusing the agency of acting under pressure is uncalled for and an attempt to malign the image of the CBI. The investigation is being conducted as per the due process of law and under the jurisdiction of the Court of law. The result of investigation will be filed before the competent Court of law based on the evidence adduced during investigation," the CBI said in a statement.
It also refuted NDTV's statement made on Monday in which the channel said NDTV and its promoters have never defaulted on any loan. "The allegations under investigation are not regarding the default in loan repayment; but relate to the wrongful gain of Rs48 crore to the promoters — Dr. Prannoy Roy, Smt Radhika Roy, M/s RRPR Holdings Pvt ltd and a corresponding wrongful loss to the ICICI bank arising from their collusion and criminal conspiracy," the CBI said.
"It is alleged in the complaint that the promoters of NDTV - Dr. Prannoy Roy, Smt Radhika Roy and M/s RRPR Holdings Pvt ltd, acting in criminal conspiracy with unknown officials of ICICI bank, violated section 19(2) of the Banking Regulation Act, the Master Circular DBOD No. Dir B90/13.07.05/98-99 dated 28.08.1998 of the Reserve Bank of India and in furtherance of the conspiracy, ICICI bank took the entire shareholding of the promoters in NDTV(nearly 61 %) as collateral and then accepted prepayment of the loan by reducing the interest rate from 19 % p.a to nearly 9.5 % p.a and as a consequence thereof, causing a wrongful loss of Rs 48 crore to ICICI bank and a corresponding wrongful gain to the promoters of NDTV — Dr Prannoy Roy, Smt Radhika Roy and M/s RRPR Holdings Pvt ltd," the agency maintained.
Clarifying on NDTV's statement questioning CBI's jurisdiction over the case since ICICI is a private bank, CBI referred to the case of Ramesh Gelli vs CBI of 2016 where the Supreme Court held that the provisions of Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 are applicable to the officials of private banks. Therefore, CBI has jurisdiction to take up investigation of the cases of private banks.