The Supreme Court Tuesday refused both bail and parole to Subrata Roy but allowed the Sahara chief a few hours out of jail under police watch to negotiate sale of three overseas hotels to raise Rs 10,000 crore to refund his investors.
Roy had sought a 40-day parole to arrange the sale of the group’s luxury hotels in New York and London to generate Rs 10,000 crore he needs to deposit with the market regulator Sebi to get regular bail.
This is the third time that the court has denied relief to the 65-year-old who has been lodged in Tihar since March 4 after the court initiated contempt proceedings against him for failing to comply with its order to refund Rs 24,000 crore to depositors.
A special three-judge bench, headed by justice TS Thakur, said, "We will allow you to hold negotiations outside jail between 10am and 4pm under police custody. But, at this stage it's premature to make such an arrangement as there is no concrete proposal."
It asked Roy's counsel to come back with a proposal. Sahara's counsel Gaurav Kejriwal said the company's lawyers would go through the order before proceeding further.
{{/usCountry}}It asked Roy's counsel to come back with a proposal. Sahara's counsel Gaurav Kejriwal said the company's lawyers would go through the order before proceeding further.
{{/usCountry}}Sahara was allowed to sell nine properties in the country along with hotels Dream Downtown and The Plaza in New York and London’s famous Grosvenor House.
Kejriwal said the court had lifted embargo from overseas properties 48 days since they submitted the related documents.
Sahara has been in a legal battle with Sebi after the market regulator faulted as illegal two investment schemes launched by its two companies. Upholding the Sebi’s findings, the SC had in August 2012 asked Sahara to repay, with interest, all investors. The company has so far paid Rs 8,000 crore of the ordered Rs 24,000 crore.