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Sahara Has Time Till July 5 To Keep Subrata Roy Out Of Jail

Sahara deposited Rs 790.18 crore out of the total Rs 1,500 crore promised.



Subrata Roy, chairman of Sahara Group (Photographer: Prashanth Vishwanathan/Bloomberg)
Subrata Roy, chairman of Sahara Group (Photographer: Prashanth Vishwanathan/Bloomberg)

The Supreme Court on Monday granted the Sahara Group a 10-day extension to deposit the entire Rs 1,500 crore into the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) account.

The company failed to deposit the full amount as per the undertaking given to the apex court in the previous hearing. Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, representing Sahara chief Subrata Roy, informed the court that they have deposited Rs 790.18 crore so far.

Sahara also informed the apex court that they have sold Grosvenor House Hotel in London to GH Equity U.K. Ltd. and the remaining amount of Rs 709.82 crore will be paid from that sale.

A bench comprising Justices Dipak Misra and Ranjan Gogoi granted Roy 10 more working days to deposit the balance and extended the court’s interim order granting him bail till July 5, also the next date of hearing.

In the previous hearing on April 27, Sahara had given two post-dated cheques: one of Rs 1,500 crore dated June 15 and other of Rs 500 crore dated July 15. The court, while ordering the auction of Sahara’s Aamby Valley property, had also warned the Sahara chief that he will be sent to back to jail if he fails to deposit these amounts by the dates mentioned.

In this ongoing SEBI-Sahara case, the Supreme Court in April 2012, had ordered two Sahara companies to refund a total of Rs 24,000 crore, along with 15 percent interest, to more than two crore small investors who had invested in their optionally-fully convertible debentures (OFCDs) between 2008 and 2011.

Roy, who set up a multi-million dollar business conglomerate, was sent to jail on March 4, 2014 for failing to pay a sum of Rs 10,000 crore as ordered by the court. The court then said that Roy will not be released from jail until he was able to raise half the amount in cash and the other half in the form of bank securities.

However, on account of Roy’s mother’s demise in May last year, the apex court permitted his release on parole. The interim arrangement has continued since then subject to Sahara’a payment of the court-directed amount.