The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused Sahara Group chairman Subrata Roy’s plea to release him from Tihar Jail to negotiate sale of the group?s assets at home and abroad. It also rejected his plea to allow him parole to raise R10,000 crore for his release.
Refusing to relax the bail condition which require the group to first deposit R10,000 crore to secure the release of Roy and two other directors, a three-judge bench headed by Justice TS Thakur said that at present there is no concrete proposal with the Saharas for sale of properties situated in India or abroad that may call for any negotiation by Roy. ?While it may be true that such negotiations cannot be said to be advisable when properties of such magnitude as in the instant case are sought to be sold, yet it is pre-mature for us to make any arrangement to facilitate any such negotiations either by directing release of Roy on parole or otherwise.? It said if a situation arises in which negotiations become essential, the court will examine and facilitate such negotiations.
Roy has been in jail for over four months over his group’s failure to repay investors who bought bonds that were later ruled to be illegal. Roy’s lawyer Rajeev Dhavan protested against the order, saying he was ?astonished and deeply pained? by it. The court has so far refused Roy bail on five occasions.
