Pay Rs 10,000 crore to get interim bail: SC tells Subrata Roy

New Delhi: Sahara group will have to pay Rs  10,000 crore to get interim bail for its Chief Subrata Roy and  firm’s two directors, who are behind the bars since 4 March, the Supreme Court ordered on Wednesday.

A bench of Justice KS Radhakrishnan and Justice JS Khehar said that interim bail will be granted only after the company  fulfils the condition while the court agreed to defreeze the firms’ bank accounts to raise the money.

“We are inclined to grant interim bail to the contemnors (Roy and two Directors) who are detained by virtue of our  order dated 4 March on the condition that they would pay the amount of Rs.10,000 crores–out of which Rs.5,000 crores to be  deposited before this court and for the balance a guarantee of a nationalized bank be furnished in favour of SEBI to be  deposited before this Court.

“On compliance, the contemnors be released forthwith and the amount deposited be released to SEBI,” the bench said.

Along with the Group’s other two Directors Ravi Shankar Dubey and Ashok Roy Choudhary, 65-year-old Roy has  been in judicial custody for not abiding by the apex court’s order for depositing Rs 20,000 crore of investors  money with SEBI.  

The bench, however, said that it agreed to grant interim  bail only to facilitate Roy to raise the money which is to be  deposited with SEBI.

“We make it clear that this order is passed in order to facilitate the contemnors to further raise the balance amount  so as to comply with the Court’s orders mentioned above,” it said.

Sahara counsel then pleaded with the court to defreeze the bank accounts to raise the money which was accepted by the  bench.

The court asked the group to give details of the bank accounts tomorrow and then they will pass the order.  It also noted in its order that fresh proposal filed by the group was not in compliance with its earlier order and  asked the SEBI to file its response.

SEBI had opposed the proposal saying it was not workable.

The group, in its proposal, assured the apex court that  it will deposit Rs 2,500 crore within three working days and  pay three instalments of Rs 3,500 cr each at the end of June, September, December and the remaining Rs 7,000 crore by 31 March, 2015.

PTI