SC exempts Sahara chief Subrata Roy from personal appearance

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SME Times News Bureau | 24 Jan, 2020
The Supreme Court on Friday exempted Sahara group chief Subrata Roy and two other Directors from personal appearance till "further orders" in a case pertaining to the alleged failure in depositing Rs 25,700 crore in the SEBI-Sahara account.

In January last year, the apex court had directed Roy and other two directors, Ravi Shankar Dubey and Ashok Roy Choudhary, to make personal appearance. It had observed that Sahara's payback process did not look promising, as it did not comply with the direction to deposit Rs 25,700 crore.

Appearing for Roy, who was present in court, senior advocate Vikas Singh asked the bench of Chief Justice S.A. Bobde and Justices B.R. Gavai and Surya Kant to grant his client exemption from personal appearance.

The court then said the contemnors are exempted from personal appearance till further orders.

The court also asked the lawyers involved in the case to prepare charts on pending application, which is essential for a long hearing.

Singh also asked the court to remove the Delhi Police escort given to Roy. The Delhi Police had alleged Roy mostly uses his private guards and the police personnel are unable to accompany him.

At this, yhe counsel for Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) contended before the court that police personnel were deployed to ensure his presence in court.

The court declined to pass an order on this aspect of the matter, and instead told the lawyers that the case will soon come up for hearing.

Roy was sent to the Tihar Jail by the apex court on March 4, 2014. He got out on parole on May 6, 2016 to perform the last rites of his mother, and since then, has been out of jail.

The top court had noted the Sahara group already deposited around Rs 20,000 crore in the SEBI-Sahara account, which includes Rs 15,000 crore and Rs 4,800 crore interest.

Earlier, the SEBI counsel had said that Rs 15,000 crore principal amount has already been deposited by the group, and with interest, the deposited amount was nearly Rs 20,000 crore.