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SC extends Sahara chief Subrata Roy’s parole, asks him to deposit Rs 300 cr
The Supreme Court extended Sahara chief Subrata Roy’s parole on Wednesday on the condition he will deposit Rs 300 crore with market regulator Securities And Exchange Board Of India (Sebi) by September 16, failing which he will be sent back to Tihar Jail.
The Supreme Court extended Sahara chief Subrata Roy’s parole on Wednesday on the condition he will deposit Rs 300 crore with market regulator Securities And Exchange Board Of India (Sebi) by September 16, failing which he will be sent back to Tihar Jail.
A bench headed by chief justice TS Thakur had on May 6 granted four-week parole to Roy to perform his mother’s last rites and it was then extended on July 11 till August 3.
During the hearing Roy’s counsel, senior advocate Kapil Sibal asked for another extension and promised to pay the amount in the first week of September. But, the CJI told Sibal: “You say you have properties worth Rs 1,87,000 crore, but you are not able to sell them. If we allow you to pay Rs 200 crore every time then you will take at least five years to make the total deposit of Rs 24,000 crore.”
Sibal told the bench Sahara has paid Rs 5,000 crore in cash and only the bank guarantee amount of Rs 5,000 crore was left to secure Roy’s regular bail as per an earlier SC order. He said the amount will be finalized by December as Canara Bank has agreed to pay Rs 1,500 crore margin money.
He wanted permission to re-sell certain properties which Sebi had sold in e-auction because the prices at which they were sold did not yield the market value.
But, SC declined his plea and said: “We will not allow you to sell the properties which are to be sold by SEBI. We don’t have confidence in you. If we allow, you will not sell.” The CJI made it clear that Sahara can sell those properties which are not to be e-auctioned by Sebi.
The court also allowed Sebi to continue its second round of e-auction to dispose Sahara’s remaining 51 properties and recover the dues the company owes to investors.
Roy was sent to Tihar jail on March 4, 2014, after he did not comply with a court order directing him to refund deposits collected from investors. He was granted bail on the condition of furnishing a bail bond of Rs. 10,000 crores, -Rs. 5,000 crore in cash and the balance amount through bank guarantee. Roy was granted parole only this year since his company has not managed to organize the funds to deposit the bail bond money.
