SC grants Sahara chief Subrata Roy 10 more days to deposit Rs 709.82 crore

SC extends its interim order granting bail to the Sahara chief till July 5, the next date of hearing

The Supreme Court today granted Sahara chief Subrata Roy 10 more working days to deposit Rs 709.82 crore out of the promised Rs 1,500 crore and extended its interim order granting him bail till July 5.

A bench comprising Justices Dipak Misra and Ranjan Gogoi considered the submissions of senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Roy, 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.

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 (Sebi) 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.