Sahara withdraws bail offer

Sahara chief Subrata Roy, who has been in Tihar central jail here for more than a month, has withdrawn his last proposal for release from imprisonment and is likely to give another set of suggestions when the case comes up for hearing in the Supreme Court on Wednesday.

 

The court had granted him freedom on condition that he pays Rs 5,000 crore in cash and Rs 5,000 crore in bank guarantees. However, he was not able to fulfil these conditions. He has been offering several alternative schemes for payment to three crore investors who had bought his bonds. The court had ordered Sahara firms in August 2012 to repay all dues to the investors. 

 

At the last hearing, Roy had expressed his inability to pay the amounts upfront and five top lawyers were arrayed to challenge the imprisonment order issued on March 4 by a bench consisting of Justice K S Radhakrishnan and Justice J S Khehar. According to Ram Jethmalani, C A Sundaram and other counsel, the order was without any authority of law and violation of the fundamental rights of Roy and two directors, who are also in jail along with him.