SC sends one to jail for contempt in Sahara case

The Supreme Court on Thursday sent one Prakash Swamy -- the power of attorney holder for a US-based company that had shown interest in buying Sahara's New York-located Hotel Plaza -- to jail for one month for not depositing Rs 10 crore fine ordered by the court for backing out and misleading the court.

The bench of Justice Dipak Misra, Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice A.K. Sikri sent Swamy to jail after the court was informed that he has not deposited Rs 10 crore, as ordered by the court during the last hearing.

Swamy had earlier told the court that US-based MG Holding was buying Sahara's Plaza Hotel, following which the court has asked him to deposit Rs 750 crore in Sahara-SEBI account to prove their bona fides.

However, in the next hearing, the court was informed that the US company had withdrawn the offer after doing due diligence of the property it was planning to buy.

Meanwhile, the top court has asked Sahara chief Subrata Roy to pay Rs 1,500 crore, as offered by him by June 15, failing which he would be sent to jail.

--IANS

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