Supreme Court extends Sahara chief Subrata Roy's parole till July 11

NEW DELHI: In a breather to Sahara chief Subrata Roy, the Supreme Court today extended his parole till July 11 to enable him to deposit Rs 200 crore with market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).

A bench headed by Chief Justice T S Thakur, however, directed Roy and Sahara Group director Ashok Roy Choudhary, who were released on parole on May 6 for four weeks to attend rituals following the death of the Sahara chief's mother, to furnish individual undertaking to prove their "bona fide" and seriousness.

Roy has been in Tihar jail since March 4, 2014 on the orders of the apex court in relation to a long running dispute with market regulator SEBI.

"We are inclined to give one chance to Subrata Roy and Ashok Roy Choudhary to prove their offer to deposit 200 crore by July 11.

"We, accordingly, direct that the May 6 order would continue till July 11 subject to the individual undertaking being furnished by them," the bench, also comprising justices A R Dave and A K Sikri, said.

If they fail to deposit Rs 200 crore to SEBI by July 11, they will have to surrender and go back to Tihar jail, the court said in its order.

It also said Roy and Choudhary were free to meet prospective buyers of properties and move within the country in police escort as per May 6 order.

It also held that SEBI would meanwhile continue with the auction of properties of Sahara.

The bench also said Saharas can also go ahead with the sale and alienation of their other properties to raise the amount of Rs 5000 crore as a bank guarantee they have to deposit in addition to Rs 5000 crore to get bail.

The order was passed after the submission of senior advocates Kapil Sibal and Rajeev Dhawan on behalf of Roy which did not receive objection from SEBI's senior counsel Arvind Datar.

However, senior advocate Shekhar Naphade, who is appointed as amicus curiae in the matter to assist the court, said there are questions as to why Sahara was averse to sale of Aamby Valley and overseas hotels.