SC extends the interim bail of Subrata Roy

New Delhi: The Supreme Court today extended the interim bail of Subrata Roy Sahara till February 6, 2017 in connection with payment of money to the investors. A bench headed by Chief Justice of India Tirath Singh Thakur, said we are extending the interim bail of Subrata Roy Sahara till Feb 6, 2017. The apex court directed Mr Roy to deposit an amount of Rs 600-crore by that time. Subrata Roy Sahara was in Tihar jail since March 4, 2014, till his mother's death on May 6, 2016, for not complying with the Apex Court's orders in connection with a long dispute with the market regulator, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).

The SEBI alleged that Roy failed to comply with 2012 apex court order which directed him to return investors more than Rs 20,000-crore with 15% interest. The money was raised by his two companies Sahara India Real Estate Corp Ltd and the Sahara Housing Finance Corp Ltd through optionally fully convertible debentures (OFCD) in 2007 and 2008. On May 6, this year, the apex court had granted four weeks' custody parole to Roy to perform his mother's last rites. Roy's mother had passed away in Lucknow on May 6 this year after a prolonged illness for over three years.

Sahara, once one of India's most high-profile firms, had in the past made several failed attempts to raise the bail money using its prized overseas hotels that included the Plaza in New York and Grosvenor House in London. Sahara says it has paid more than 80 percent of the dues to the bondholders, but the market regulator, SEBI, disputes that and says the Sahara has not paid more than Rs 10,000-crore. (UNI)