SC summons Subrata Roy for not refunding investors' money

The Supreme Court on Thursday summoned Sahara group head Subrata Roy to be present in the court on February 28 to explain the non-refunding of Rs 24,000 crore the group's two companies involved in real estate and financing had collected from the investors through optionally fully convertible debentures (OFCDs).

Directing Subrata Roy and two Directors of the group to be present in the court, a bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, Justice A.K. Sikri and Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul said that if Roy can't cough up the money, then the law will take its course.

The court noted that even two years after giving a roadmap to refund Rs 24,000 crore that Sahara India Real Estate Corp Ltd (SIRECL) and Sahara Housing Investment Corp Ltd (SHICL) had raised in 2008 and 2009, this had not been done.

Sahara had on October 21, 2016 submitted the roadmap for returning the investors' money that according to SEBI stood at about Rs 36,000 crore.

The roadmap submitted by Sahara was spread over 26 months up to December 2018 by which time Sahara had proposed to refund the money to 3.3 crore investors.

The court had asked counsel for Sahara, SEBI and amicus curiae Shekhar Naphade to sit and give an agreed roadmap for the return of the investors money with statement on how much money has to be paid, principal amount, interest thereon and what has already been paid by Sahara to market regulator SEBI.

The court on May 4, 2014 sent Roy and two other directors - Ashok Roy Choudhary and Ravi Shankar Dubey -- to the Tihar Central Jail.

The last hearing in the matter took place on July 12, 2018 when the top court was informed that the auction of Sahara group's flagship project Aamby Valley in Maharashtra had failed as there were no bidders.

Sahara India Real Estate Corp Ltd (SIRECL) and Sahara Housing Investment Corp Ltd (SHICL) had raised Rs 24,000 crore through optionally fully convertible debentures.

The top court on August 31, 2012 directed Sahara to refund this amount along with 15 per cent interest. The group has given a part of the money to SEBI that is parked in the SEBI-Sahara Refund Account.

--IANS

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