Deepak Kochhar, husband of former ICICI Chairman Chanda Kochhar, has asked the Bombay High Court to stop the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) from questioning people outside regular working hours.

This request came after the high court recently criticized the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for questioning an elderly person late at night. Following this, the ED told its officers to stick to normal working hours for questioning.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had earlier filed a case against Chanda and Deepak Kochhar based on a whistleblower’s claim that Chanda Kochhar gave loans worth ₹3,250 crore to the Videocon group, which then invested in Deepak Kochhar’s company. This loan later became a non-performing asset (NPA).

A division bench of, Justices Bharati Dangre and Manjusha Deshpande, listened to Kochhar’s request and asked the SFIO to reply. Kochhar’s petition mentioned that the SFIO questioned him from 10:45 a.m. to 10:00 p.m., arguing that questioning should stay within regular hours.

The government lawyer, Manisha Jagtap, told the court that the SFIO would not question Kochhar outside these hours, but she wasn’t sure if they would take any strict actions against him. In response, the court ordered that no strict action be taken against Kochhar until the next hearing.