New Delhi: In a major relief to Sahara group, the Supreme Court modified its earlier order of sending its chief Subrata Roy to jail and extended his parole after his lawyer submitted an apology in the courtroom on Wednesday.
The top court asked Roy to deposit another Rs. 200 crores with the Securities and Exchanges Board of India (SEBI) by 24th October and instructed him to give a concrete roadmap for repayment by that date.
In a dramatic turn of events in the Supreme Court on last Friday morning, the Chief Justice of India (CJI) TS Thakur had cancelled an interim bail given to Roy, and the two directors of Sahara, after an altercation with senior advocate Dr Rajeev Dhawan who was representing Roy.
Roy and the two Sahara directors, have been out on bail since May 2016.
Even though the hearing in the case started on an easy note, things took a nasty turn when Dhawan intervened during SEBI lawyer's arguments saying Mr Roy was not being consulted in the sale of his properties, and that he should be heard before his properties are sold off by SEBI.
The Chief Justice of India however said that in such a case Roy should go to jail and then the court will hear him on merit.
Irritated by the observation from the CJI, Roy’s counsel, Dr Dhawan, retorted saying, "It is the most unfair comment by the CJI.”
This retort triggered a reaction from the CJI who shot back at the advocate saying, "Don't tell us what we should say or do.”
The CJI then ordered the cancellation of the bail.
Subrata Roy was sent to jail by the Apex court in March 2014 for contempt, and he was in jail for over 26 months before he was released by the top court to attend the last rites of his mother in May 2016.
Since May 2016, SC had carved out an arrangement saying Roy could continue to be on bail if he regularly pays monies to SEBI, which he had illegally collected from the public.
Immediately after SC cancelled the bail, another application was filed in the top court to modify its order.
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