No Bail For Subrata Roy, Sahara Asked to Pay Rs 36,000 Crore

Sahara chief Subrata Roy will have to remain in jail as he failed to get bank guarantee of Rs 5,000 crore. The Supreme Court on Friday reiterated that Mr Roy's release is subject to furnishing Rs 5,000 crore in cash and Rs 5,000 crore in bank guarantee.

Mr Roy failed to raise the bank guarantee as the bank backed out at the last moment, Sahara said. The Sahara chief had already deposited Rs 5,120 crore in cash.

Mr Roy was arrested in March last year after the company failed to comply with a court order to refund money it had raised from millions of small investors by selling them bonds later ruled to be illegal.

The Supreme Court also said Sahara owes as much as Rs 36,000 crore to bond investors, which it has to deposit within 18 months and in 9 instalments. The court also ruled that if Mr Roy fails to deposit any three instalments, he and two other directors of Sahara, who are also currently in Delhi's Tihar jail, will be taken into custody.

The Supreme Court also said the Sahara chief and two other directors will have to deposit their passports and cannot travel outside India without the court's permission. Even while travelling within India, Mr Roy and the Sahara directors will have to keep the Police informed, the court said.

But all these conditions will come into operation once Mr Roy and the two directors furnish the bank guarantee.

Meanwhile, the court extended the hi-tech jail facility provided to the Sahara chief for asset-sale negotiations by 8 weeks.