The Supreme Court Thursday directed Sahara group chief Subrata Roy to appear before it on February 28 for failing to deposit Rs 25,700 crore in the SEBI-Sahara case for returning investors’ money.
The apex court said six months were given to Sahara by its last order to arrange the amount but what has transpired during the period has not inspired the confidence of the court.
A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi noted that the group has deposited only Rs 15,000 crore.
The bench, also comprising Justices A K Sikri and S K Kaul, declined to give any further chance to Roy and other directors to comply with its previous orders.
It said it had decided to proceed with the matter so that the law takes its own course and directed Roy and other directors to appear before it personally on next date of hearing.
Earlier, Sebi has asked Sahara India Commercial Corporation, Subrata Roy and the company’s other former directors to return over Rs 14,000 crore raised from millions of investors through optionally fully convertible debentures (OFCD) without complying to regulatory norms.
Besides barring these entities from the capital markets for four years, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has ordered them to refund the money along with 15 per cent annual interest.
Sebi found that Sahara India Commercial Corporation (SICCL) had made an offer of OFCDs in financial years 1998-2009 and raised an amount of at least Rs 14,106 crore from 1,98,39,939 investors.
Roy was held in custody in the Tihar Jail, Delhi and out on parole since May 2016. Sahara was allowed to sell a part of its assets in India to raise part of the money in question.
He was granted interim bail by Supreme Court of India on 26 March 2014 on condition of depositing Rs 10,000 crore with the market regulator SEBI.
However his deposit of 10,000 crore has not been made.As of August 2014, Roy was trying to sell some of his hotel properties to raise enough money.
Roy was granted his first bail for four weeks to perform the last rites for his deceased mother, later his bail extended