Deposit Rs 200 Crore With SEBI To Stay Out Of Jail, Supreme Court Tells Subrata Roy
SC asked Sahara to give a roadmap on how they will pay Rs 12,000 crore to SEBI.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday further extended Sahara chief Subrata Roy’s parole till October 24 but with a rider. The court ordered him to deposit Rs 200 crore with market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India within that period.
Roy and two company directors will be sent back to custody if the Sahara group fails to pay this amount by the specified date, the court said.
The apex court thereby modified its September 23 order that denied extension of parole and sent Roy and two other Sahara group directors back to custody in Tihar Jail.
The apex court also asked the Sahara group to give a concrete roadmap and scheme for repayment of remaining amount with SEBI. “There is confusion about how much money has been repaid and total amount payable. We direct Saharas to give roadmap of amount deposited and payable. Saharas will share details with SEBI and the amicus curiae,” said the court.
SEBI informed the court that the Sahara group has deposited Rs 10,718.9 crore so far out of the Rs 37,000 crore that it is required to pay. Sahara claimed that the group has already returned Rs 12,000 crore and proposed to repay the amount owed to SEBI in the next year and a half instead of paying Rs 300 odd crore every month.
Roy’s counsel and Senior Advocate Sibal urged the court to give Sahara group a “free hand” to sell properties and argued that if the group keeps depositing money to the SEBI-Sahara account it will not be able to run its business.
Sahara also informed the apex court that talks with bankers on the sale of three overseas properties - Grosvenor House in London, Plaza Hotel in New York and Dream Downtown Hotel in New York - are likely to be concluded by December-end.
In this ongoing SEBI-Sahara saga, Sahara chief Subrata Roy was sent to Tihar jail in 2014 for non-compliance of an order, asked Sahara to pay Rs 10,000 crore, half in cash and half as bank guarantee, to secure Roy’s release from prison. However, on account of Roy’s mother’s demise in May, the apex court permitted his release. Roy got parole extensions on three occasions since June by making regular deposits. His parole was earlier extended till September 23.