Roy leaves no stone unturned to convince SC

Arrested Sahara chief Subrata Roy today left no stone unturned to convince the Supreme Court that he will abide by all its orders and directions to refund Rs 20,000 crore to investors many of whom are "rickshaw pullers and cobblers".
"Today I am here with folded hands and begging that give me some time and consider us (our proposal)," Roy, who himself stood up from the second row of the court room, pleaded before a bench comprising justices K S Radhakrishnan and J S Khehar.
During the two-hour hearing, the Sahara chief made 8-10 efforts himself to convince the bench that he was not running away and would "honour each and every order of this court".

"If I don't do, then punish us," he said and also tried to justify why he was making payments through cash to many of the depositors.
"Depositors are rickshaw pullers and even cobblers who are depositing Rs 8,000. SEBI says what is the source of payment? Poor persons who are getting money in cash, they will not pay Rs 2 on postage for reply. With folded hands, I am saying SEBI's attitude was not correct.
"Your concern is about the fictitious accounts but did SEBI respect your order? Did they verify the documents? SEBI stopped. Ask them to comply with your order, everything will be solved," he submitted while taking refuge in a World Bank report which said 60 per cent of adults don't have bank accounts in the country.

Roy referred to a similar type of situation he had faced in 2008 when RBI came out with the order on Non Banking Financial Corporation (NBFC) and said the Supreme Court had given them time to pay Rs 18,000 crore.
"Before seven years, we made our payments. Investors were paid in cash and most of them were making deposits of Rs 3,000 to 4,000 and they were returned in cash and that is the class we are catering.
"There was not a single fictitious account. This is the same set of investors," he said about the present crisis.