 "SC grants Sahara's Subrata Roy a 15-day extension to negotiate property deals")
The Supreme Court today grantedjailed Sahara boss Subrata Roy an extension of 15 days to stay in Tihar’s high-tech outhouse to negotiate the sale of some of his luxury hotels to help to secure bail. The apex court, however, clarified that further pleas seeking an extension will not be entertained.
Roy, chairman of the Sahara conglomerate, was initially given 10 days by the Supreme Court to talk to potential bidders for three hotels, including Grosvenor House in London and the New York Plaza, to raise $1.6 billion for bail.
Roy has been given an office with 600 sq ft (56 sq metres) of space inside New Delhi’s Tihar jail complex, where he can hold video conferences, use computers and receive visitors to try to sell or mortgage the hotels.
The initial deadline for using these facilities was set to end on 20 August.
On Wednesday, Sahara sought a 15-day extension continued use of the facilities in prison.
According to a _CNBC-TV18 repor_t, Sahara is reportedly in advanced talks with potential buyers.
“Negotiations with foreign buyers are at final stage & we are getting price of our overseas hotels above their market valuation,” Sahara counsels told the apex court today.
Roy was jailed in March after he failed to appear at a contempt hearing in the long-running dispute with the capital markets watchdog over the company’s failure to repay billions of dollars to investors who were sold outlawed bonds.
He has yet to be charged over the dispute and denies any wrongdoing. His Sahara group has vast real estate, media and hotel interests, part-owns a Formula 1 team and used to sponsor the Indian cricket team.
Roy calls himself “managing worker and chairman” of Sahara and chief guardian of the “world’s biggest family”, overseeing businesses with almost a million staff and agents.
With inputs from Reuters
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