SC allows Sahara chief to be moved to make-shift jail

The Supreme Court Friday cleared the decks for shifting Sahara chief Subrata Roy and two other directors to a make-shift jail in the conference hall at the Tihar Jail court complex to facilitate his negotiations for the sale of his properties in India and abroad.

A bench of Justice T.S.Thakur, Justice Anil R. Dave and Justice A.K.Sikri said that the Delhi government will issue a notification designating the conference hall as a jail by Aug 4 where Roy along with two other directors - Ravi Shankar Dubey and Ashok Roy Choudhary - will be shifted Aug 5 and stay for ten working days.

This is being done to enable Roy to raise Rs.10,000 crore to make part payment of the investors money raised in 2008-09. The apex court by its March 4 order had asked Sahara to deposit Rs.5,000 crore to be paid in cash and Rs.5,000 crore through bank guarantee.

Raising this money is also a condition for the release of Roy and two other directors who are in judicial custody since March 4 for not complying with the apex court order of Aug 30, 2012 and Dec 5, 2012 to pay back to the investors the Rs. 24,000 crores that two Sahara companies SIRECL and SHICL had raised through optionally fully convertible debentures (OFCDs) in 2008-09.

Roy had moved the court seeking to be shifted to an outhouse with conference facilities within the Tihar jail complex for negotiating with prospective buyers or lenders of three overseas Sahara hotels - Grosvenor House Hotel in London and the New York Plaza and Dream New York hotels in New York.

In the make-shift jail in the conference hall, Roy will have the assistance of two secretarial staff and a technical person who would operate the electronic equipment including video conferencing.

The court permitted the use of two computers, two laptops, a mobile and a landline. They will be provided with the facility of video conferencing, wide screen and WiFi by the jail authorities but Sahara will have to bear the cost.

The secretarial staff and technical person will be allowed to enter the jail premises by 6 a.m. (lock out time) and leave at 8 p.m. (lock in time).

Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar, appearing for the government, opposed the plea to allow the three Sahara staffers to stay beyond 8 p.m. as contact with American buyers/lenders will take place only after that time.

He also said that Sahara staffers should not be allowed to come to Tihar Jail on Sundays and gazetted holidays.

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SC allows Sahara chief to be moved to make-shift jail