Former Indian Premier League (IPL) chief Lalit Modi is brokering a deal to help facilitate the release of Sahara chief Subrata Roy. The former IPL czar is reportedly arranging to sell properties belonging to Sahara.
This revelation was made before the Supreme Court by US-based Madison Capital, which said that it would buy two hotels owned by Sahara.
The company told the Supreme Court that it would buy Sahara’s Plaza hotel and Dreams Downtown hotel in New York.
This comes close on the heels of the Monsoon Session facing a complete washout over a controversy involving Lalit Modi, who is facing charges of major financial impropriety. The Monsoon Session of Parliament ended without any business as the Congress-led opposition continued demanding the resignation of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje for allegedly helping the former IPL chief.
Sahara chief Subrata Roy has been in jail since March 2014 for not complying with court order to return Rs 24,000 crore to investors.
Earlier in August, the Supreme Court had rejected Roy’s plea for release on humanitarian grounds, saying “you are in jail by choice”.
"One thing which is troublesome is that the person (Roy) says there is an asset of Rs 1,85,000 crore. He tells the court that he has so much of money but when it comes to paying one-fifth of that he is unable to pay."
"You have to pay only the one-fifth of your amount. The person who is blessed with so much money is sacrificing his liberty in jail and not parting away with his property. You are in jail by choice," a bench headed by Justice TS Thakur observed and referred to his earlier submissions when Roy had claimed that the group has sufficient assets to pay the investors.
The remarks were made when senior advocate Kapil Sibal was making a submission that it was not fair for the court to put Roy inside the jail when the contempt proceedings against him were not over.
Further, he said, other large business houses did not have to suffer like this and their loans of considerable amount like Rs 1,000 crore get rescheduled for payment in five or 10 years by the RBI or banks.
The senior advocate said it was difficult for Roy to arrange a big amount for his release by staying inside the jail and the court should consider humanitarian grounds for his release.
However, the bench said "please appreciate we have certain constraints. Read the previous orders passed by this court. You will know why your client is in jail. Read it you will not say."
(With PTI Inputs)
Comments
0 comment