Subrata Roy may walk out of jail next week

Sahara told SC that it will deposit the bail money of Rs 5,000 cr on May 13

Sahara group chief Subrata Roy might be out of Tihar jail as early as next week, after he informed the Supreme Court a bank guarantee for Rs 5,000 crore was ready.

It was an “unconditional bank guarantee on a scheduled bank, on demand, without demur”, Roy’s counsel Kapil Sibal told the court on Friday. The group has paid a significant portion of the Rs 5,000 crore cash required for bail. It is selling some of its real estate assets to raise cash, which is being paid by buyers in instalments.

Sibal did not disclose the name of the bank nor the details of the source, despite queries from the Bench headed by Justice TS Thakur. He, however, said the format of the guarantee was according to the standard followed by banks.

The bank guarantee, to be finalised by next Wednesday, will be in favour of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi). The case will be heard on Thursday.

Sebi counsel Arvind Datar wanted Sahara to specify the trigger for invoking the guarantee. According to the format proposed, the guarantee will be alive for six months, to be renewed for six-month periods with the consent of court. Otherwise, Sebi had no serious objection to the format.

Roy has been in jail for 14 months as he could not meet the bail condition of depositing Rs 5,000 crore in cash and an equal amount in bank guarantee.

Roy, along with two directors of the group, have been provided facilities within the jail to negotiate sales of Sahara properties in London and New York and nine assets in India, including the prestigious Aamby Valley project.  

The court has asked Sahara to refund Rs 24,029 crore to 29 million depositors from whom it had raised funds. The court had also asked the group to pay interest of 15 per cent on the sum. According to Sebi’s calculations, the outstanding amount has crossed Rs 40,000 crore.

Sahara has been claiming it has refunded most of the amount collected to depositors, though the Sebi argued Sahara could not have unilaterally taken such a decision when the matter was pending before the Supreme Court.

The court is likely to discuss the modalities with reference to this amount also in its next hearing. Separately, the Sahara group had moved a plea to use the amount from sale of the attached properties after paying bail for paying salaries and meeting statutory liabilities.

In the application the group sought the court’s permission to “utilise the balance, if any, of the proceeds obtained from the sale/encumberance of assets, which has been specifically permitted by this court, that remains after complying the order dated 26.3.2014 passed by this court for the purpose of meeting the liabilities enumerated in the application.”

The order specifying bail conditions for Roy was passed on March 26, 2014.

This application is also likely to be taken up by the court next week.