SC rejects Sahara appeal for putting Roy under house arrest

The Sahara Group earlier in the day requested the apex court to release Roy from Tihar Jail and put him under house arrest or under any other form of restriction.

 

 With Subrata Roy behind the bars, Sahara cannot engage in talks with international buyers and raise money to pay SEBI, the company told the court.

 

"We thereby request the Supreme Court to put him under house arrest, office arrest or put stringent conditions/restrictions on him," the lawyers of the company said.

 

Sahara counsel Keshav Mohan said: "Today SEBI has finished its argument on maintainability. It was our plea that there is a state of confusion regarding the detention of Mr. Subrata Roy Sahara in civil matter  and the way jail authority is keeping him with the undertrial criminal prisoners for the last one and half month.  

 

"On which Hon’ble Court has clarified that he is neither in a criminal prison nor in a civil prison but Mr. Subrata Roy Sahara is in Supreme court’s custody and adjourned the matter for 16th April, 2014."

 

"To comply with the order we have requested the Hon’ble Court to keep Mr. Subrata Roy Sahara under house arrest instead of Tihar Jail because it is difficult to raise money while Mr Roy is in jail. We also requested that since he is in jail, no prospective international buyer would like to visit the jail to negotiate a deal but the Hon'ble Court said we are not entertaining it at this stage," Mohan said.

 

On Apr 3, the Sahara Group told the Supreme Court that they cannot deposit Rs 10,000 crore immediately for Roy's release from Tihar Jail.

 

The company said it could raise only Rs 2,500 crore for Roy's bail as of now.

 

The Sahara Group's lawyer said the company will pay the rest of the money within three weeks after Roy release.

 

However, the apex court rejected the proposal.

 

Even after the Supreme Court granted him conditional bail, Roy will continue to remain behind bars till Rs 10,000 crore is deposited. 

   

The Supreme Court on Mar 26 granted conditional bail to Roy and ordered him to deposit Rs 10,000 crore with market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) for his interim release.

 

The apex court said Roy has to deposit Rs 5,000 crore in cash, and another Rs 5,000 crore through a bank guarantee.