Sahara : Subrata Roy Gets 10 More Days To Deposit Rs 700 Cr; Bail Extended Till Jul 5

The SEBI-Sahara investors repayment case came up before the Supreme Court.

A bench of justices Dipak Misra and Ranjan Gogoi extended the bail of Sahara chief Subrata Roy till July 5 after granting him 10 more working days to deposit Rs 709.82 crore out of the promised Rs 1,500 crore.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Roy submitted that Rs 790.18 have been already been deposited with the SEBI-Sahara account and 10 more working days be granted for submission of the remainder. The bench considered the submissions.

Roy had earlier deposited two cheques of Rs 1,500 crore and Rs 552.22 crore to be paid to the Securities and Exchange Board of India on June 15 and July 15 respectively.

Irked over non-submission of money, the Supreme Court had on April 17 decided to sell property worth Rs 34,000 crore belonging to the Sahara group in Maharashtra's Aamby Valley and had sought Roy's presence before it.

The court had on November 28 last year asked Roy to deposit Rs 600 crore more by February 6 in the refund account to remain out of jail and warned that failure to do so would result in his return to prison. It had on May 6, 2016 granted Roy four-week parole to attend his mother's funeral. His parole has been extended by the court ever since. Roy was sent to Tihar jail on March 4, 2014. Besides Roy, two other directors, Ravi Shankar Dubey and Ashok Roy Choudhary, were also arrested for the failure of two group companies, Sahara India Real Estate Corporation (SIRECL) and Sahara Housing Investment Corp Ltd (SHICL), to comply with the court's August 31, 2012 order to return Rs 24,000 crore to their investors. Director Vandana Bhargava was not taken into custody.

TOUGH STAND ON APR 27

Toughening its stance, an angry Supreme Court had on April 27 set a deadline of June 15 for Roy to pay the next instalment of Rs 1500 crore towards repayment to investors and sternly told the Sahara chief who had been summoned to court that he will be sent to jail in the event of non-payment of the money by that date.

“We are warning you if the amount does not come or your cheque gets dishonored you will be straight away sent to jail. We cannot give you endless time. That is a dream you are dreaming. There has been enough indulgence”, a bench headed by justice Dipak Misra had told Roy who stood with his hand folded in the second row of the courtroom dressed in a sandal colour safari suit.

Angry that its repeated warning had been ignored, the apex court had on April 17 ordered the sale of Sahara’s luxurious Aamby Valley, its prime property in Pune worth Rs 39,000 crore and directed the group chief Subrata Roy to appear before it on April 28.

The court cracked the whip as the last date for payment of an instalment of Rs 5,000 crore by the Sahara group expired.

Roy gave a cheque to the court of Rs 1,500 crore to be deposited in SEBI-Sahara account on or before June 15. He also furnished a post-dated cheque of Rs 552 crore to be realised by July 15.