The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has moved the Supreme Court for the detention of Sahara Group founder Subrata Roy for the group’s high profile case related to alleged irregularities and refund of the money raised from the public through issuance of bonds, as per separate media reports.
The apex court will hear SEBI’s petition which is seeking the Supreme Court’s nod to ‘take measures for arrest and detention in civil prison the promoter of Sahara, Subrata Roy, and the two male directors named Ashok Roy Choudhary and Ravi Shankar Dubey after giving reasonable opportunity of hearing’ in the first week of April.
The market regulator has also sought the apex court’s approval to attach the passports of Roy and the other two directors to prevent them from travelling abroad.
The case is related to a refund of over Rs 24,000 crore, which was raised from nearly 30 million small investors by the two firms – Sahara Housing Investment Corporation and Sahara India Real Estate Corporation.
The court ordered the Sahara Group to pay the money in three tranches, starting with an initial amount of Rs 5,120 crore (in Dec 2012), another Rs 10,000 crore (first week of January this year) and the remainder (in the first week of Feb). However, Sahara has claimed its liabilities are unlikely to exceed Rs 5,100 crore, which is disputed by the securities market regulator.
Late last month, the apex court dismissed a petition filed by the Sahara Group seeking an extension of a deadline for depositing the money and documents with SEBI.
(Edited by Sanghamitra Mandal)
