The Supreme Court on Wednesday extended Sahara Group chief Subrata Roy’s interim parole till October 24, reported ANI. The apex court bench asked Roy to deposit Rs 200 crore with the Securities and Exchange Board of India within that time. It also asked him to explain how he intends to pay more than Rs 10,000 crore that he owes to the regulator, reported The Indian Express.
On September 23, the court agreed to reconsider his parole petition only hours after it rejected the plea following ‘offensive’ arguments by Roy’s lawyer. Roy has been out on parole since May 6 after his mother died. The top court on August 3 had extended his parole for the third time till September 16 and asked Roy to deposit Rs 300 crore more to Sebi as a bank guarantee.
Roy was sent to Tihar Jail in March 2014 after he failed to comply with a court order that directed him to refund money was raised from investors by selling them bonds that were later ruled illegal. Sahara was asked to submit Rs 10,000 crore – partly in cash and the remaining in bank guarantees – to secure bail for Roy and two other directors in jail.
On February 2, Sahara had sought permission from the Supreme Court to sell its 42% stake in Formula 1 team Force India, four airplanes and its Sahara Star Hotel in Mumbai to raise Rs 3,000 crore of the Rs 10,000-crore bail bond set for Roy's release. The company had also said negotiations were underway to sell three of its overseas hotels – the Grosvenor House Hotel in London, the New York Plaza Hotel and the Dream New York Hotel.
The court's refusal to further extend Roy's parole comes before Sebi puts up 13 plots belonging to Sahara for an e-auction next month, hoping to fetch around Rs 1,400 crore from their sale. These are in addition to the 58 Sahara properties that were to be auctioned in July at a combined reserve price of nearly Rs 5,000 crore, PTI reported.
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