New Delhi: The Supreme Court today extended till June 19 the parole of Sahara chief Subrata Roy with a warning that failure to meet the deadline of June 15 for payment of Rs 1,500 crore would land him in prison once again.
Roy, who in compliance with the last order appeared before the court, was told by the apex court that he has to frequently make the payments as per the roadmap approved by the court or face further imprisonment.
The Sahara chief gave an undertaking to a bench headed by Justice Dipak Misra that he would deposit Rs 1,500 crore by June 15 and another payment of Rs 552.22 crore by July 15 in the SEBI-Sahara account and filed an affidavit. The apex court warned Roy that he may be sent to jail again if the amount is not paid.
In a related development, the bench, which also comprised Justices Ranjan Gogoi and A K Sikri, ordered the arrest of Chennai-based Prakash Swamy, who failed to deposit Rs 10 crore as per the last order. He will serve one month-jail for contempt of court.
Swamy had filed an affidavit on behalf a foreign firm expressing his intent to buy Sahara’s New York-based hotel. He had failed to comply with the apex court’s direction to show his bonafide by depositing the amount in court to establish his intention to buy the property.
The bench also allowed the Sahara group to make electronic payment through RTGS in the Sebi-Sahara account on or before June 15.
The apex court directed Roy to remain personally present on June 19, the next date of hearing. It asked the Official Liquidator of Bombay High Court to prepare terms and conditions for auctioning the Aamby Valley property for its approval on June 19.
Irked over non-submission of money, the Supreme Court had on April 17 decided to sell Rs 34,000 crore worth properties of the Sahara Group at the Aamby Valley and had sought Roy’s presence before it.
Making its mind clear, the bench had said the court may rethink about varying the interim order of bail and consider sending the contemnor (Roy and others) to custody.
It had also cautioned Roy from playing with the court’s order and said non-compliance of its order would invite the wrath of the law.
The court had agreed to the amicus curiae’s suggestion that Official Liquidator (OL) of the Bombay High Court be directed to conduct the sale.
Taking serious note of Roy’s parole extension, it had said he should have been taken into custody after conducting last rites of his mother and “indulgence” was granted for repayment of money in the SEBI-Sahara account.
The bench had also taken strong note of the affidavit of Prakash Swamy, power of attorney holder of MG Capital Holdings LLC, New York, USA, that there was difficulty to go with the transaction of purchasing Sahara’s Hotel Plaza.
It had taken note of the fact that the company did not deposit Rs 750 crore with the SEBI Sahara Refund Account to show its bonafide in purchasing the Hotel Plaza, valued at USD 550 million.
It had directed Swamy to deposit Rs 10 crore within ten days, failing which non-bailable arrest warrant would be issued against him.
The apex court had on April 6 warned the Group that if it failed to deposit Rs 5092.6 crore in SEBI-Sahara refund account by April 17 in pursuance of its order, it will be “compelled” to auction its property at the Aamby Valley.
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 a four-week parole to Roy to attend the funeral of his mother. 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 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.
