SC rejects Sahara chief Subroto Roy's plea to carry out asset deal with international buyers

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday virtually rejected a plea by Sahara chief Subroto Roy for a reprieve from the "overcrowded" Tihar jail to negotiate a sale of an unspecified asset to an "international buyer".

The top court was equally cool to his plea for homecooked food as well as unlimited phone calls which the group said was necessary to facilitate the asset sale. "Tihar was made for 500 convicts. It now houses 1,500," Sahara lawyer Ram Jethmalani told the court at the outset, in a bid to point out the deplorable, overcrowded conditions in the jail.

"We have found an international buyer, but which international buyer will go to Tihar to negotiate," he asked the court. "The court has no jurisdiction to send him to a criminal jail," he said. He urged the court to place Roy either under house arrest or office arrest for the time being.

The only intent is to prevent him for leaving the country, he said. That can be done in so many other ways, including by asking him to report to court daily, Jethmalani said. He dubbed it an interim arrangement that would help him come up with a solution, but the court did not budge.

Instead, the bench of Justices KS Radhakrishnan and JS Khehar pointed out that he was only in the court’s custody and that it has not punished him. Justice Radhakrishnan said he was taking note of Jethmalani’s plea for Roy’s release on the ground of violation of his right to life and liberty.

Jethmalani pointed out that the holidays – summer recess of the court – were round the corner and continued detention of Roy was "destroying his capability and credibility to negotiate".

Roy and two other Sahara directors are in custody for more than a month now for the failure of two group companies to deposit Rs 2,4000 crore with market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India.

This money was to be repaid to investors in Sahara’s bonds, which the regulator had said were issued violating rules. Dr Rajeev Dhavan, lawyer for the three Sahara directors in judicial custody, sought permission to let them have homecooked food and unlimited phone calls, but the bench ignored his plea.