Five-star jail: Sahara pays up Rs 31 lakh for Subrata Roy’s stay in Tihar ‘deal room’

 PTI 1 Nov 2014

The Sahara group has paid Rs 31 lakh to Tihar jail authorities as charges for stay of its chief Subrata Roy in an air-conditioned facility and using services like phone, internet and video conferencing for 57 days to negotiate sale of his luxury hotels abroad.

Subrata Roy was allowed by the Supreme Court to use the jail's conference room to negotiate sale of his hotels in order to collect Rs 10,000 crore for his bail.

"The payment was made by the Sahara group a few days before the withdrawal of special services. An amount of Rs 31 lakh has been submitted to us that includes the expenses of security, electricity charges, food etc," a senior jail official told PTI.

Roy, 65, stayed in the special facility for a total period of 57 days with his two directors Ashok Roy Choudhary and Ravi Shankar Dubey from August 5 to September 30.

In a letter to Tihar authorities recently, Roy had demanded restoration of the facilities saying that almost 80 percent of the deal was fixed and that withdrawal of services may lead to its cancellation.

He had also demanded enhanced security claiming threat to his life.

Roy, who was sent to jail on March 4 this year for non-refund of over Rs 20,000 crore with interest to depositors, was asked by the court to pay Rs 10,000 crore to get bail, including Rs 5,000 crore in cash and rest of the amount in bank guarantee.

Subrata Roy moved back to jail, special facilities withdrawn

PTI | Oct 1, 2014, 10.13 PM IST

NEW DELHI: Sahara chief Subrata Roy was Wednesday sent back to his cell in Tihar Jail at the end of the period granted by the Supreme Court to stay at an air conditioned facility in the complex to negotiate sale of his overseas luxury hotels.

The court had extended Roy's stay at the Tihar Jail conference room by 15 days on September 8 for him to sell the properties to raise Rs 10,000 crore to be deposited with Sebi for his bail.

"We received no further extension orders from the court and the duration for which Subrata Roy was allowed to use the conference room with special facilities ended yesterday. He has been shifted back to the jail today. He will be staying at the central jail here in jail number one," Tihar jail DIG Mukesh Prasad told.

Prasad said the shifting was done around 11am amid heavy security.

"Both his directors and Roy will stay together in the central jail here with no special facility available to them any more. Any further directions on the matter from the court are awaited," he said.

The Supreme Court, on August 1 had allowed Roy and two of his group directors to use the fully air-conditioned conference room in Tihar jail complex for 10 days from August 5, within a given time lot of 6:00am to 8:00pm.

The meetings held by the group under the surveillance of CCTV cameras.

Roy, 65, was using the conference room with services like Wi-Fi and video-conferencing. He was allowed two laptops, two desktops, landline phones with STD/ISD facilities and a mobile phone.

Two secretarial and one technical person were also allowed to assist him. Roy has been lodged in Tihar Jail since March 4 this year.

Jailed Subrata Roy is paying the price for arrogance of power

Firstbiz Jagannathan 9 Sep 2014

That are the lessons we can learn from the fall from grace of Vijay Mallya and Subrata Roy?

While the former is battling the banks after being declared a “wilful” defaulter by the United Bank of India, a declaration which could cost Mallya all his board positions, the latter completed six months in jail this week for what we should call “wilful” defiance of a Supreme Court verdict. The verdict, delivered as far back as 31 August, 2012, asked Roy to return all the money raised through two illegal issues of optionally fully convertible debentures (OFCDs) to Sebi – for onward dispatch to genuine investors. Roy went to jail only on 4 March this year after stringing the Supreme Court along for 18 months.

Some 10-15 years ago, it would have been a fair bet that neither Mallya nor Roy would have been hauled over the coals for “wilful” transgressions of their loan conditions or the law. A political system of cronyism that ensured that the big fish always got away would have come to their rescue.

Now, no one can be sure. The reason is simple: all democratic institutions have been damaged and compromised so much by rampant cronyism – the executive, the legislature, the investigative agencies, the regulators, the judiciary, and the media – that they are now fighting hard to regain the credibility they have lost.

The courts, damaged by allegations of cronyism and corruption, are unwilling to be seen as handmaidens to the corrupt. They are over-reaching to prove they are clean.

The media, in an effort to redeem itself, is making extra efforts to chase every crook – real or imagined. Despite efforts by sections of the media to tone down coverage of wrongdoing when it involves their own commercial interests or owners, the media as a collective is sparing no effort to prove its worth.

The investigative agencies and the regulators see the nailing of big names as key to their own future credibility.

The banks, under fire for lending money to all kinds of unviable projects under pressure from politicians and through corrupt practices, are tightening up their act and going after defaulters.

The regulators, Sebi and RBI among them, long seen as kowtowing to the powerful, are also refusing to yield an inch where earlier they would have been open to compromise.

Big fish in net

Mallya and Roy are some of the first big fish to be caught in the net when all institutions are trying to re-establish their independence – both to themselves and the public at large.

So, if Mallya is trying to wriggle out of his “wilful defaulter” status by appealing to the higher courts on technicalities, he is likely to face severe resistance from the judiciary. The Calcutta high court, for example, refused to hear his plea to let a lawyer represent his company before United Bank of India (UBI) in the case; on Tuesday (2 September), the Supreme Court refused to humour him too, as this Hindustan Times report says.

In Subrata Roy’s case, where a bail could easily have been granted so as to enable him to negotiate the sale of his assets and pay Rs 10,000 crore, the Supreme Court steadfastly refused to play ball. Instead, all the court would allow was to let him use the conference room at Tihar jail to conduct negotiations to sell his hotels abroad. The court knows that the entire OFCD issue could not have been made to legitimate investors. Parts of it could have been benami. This was probably why it could not let him do his deals independently.

Arrogance vs contrition
Mallya and Roy are paying the price because they chose to show defiance at a time when all democratic institutions are trying to re-establish their damaged credibility by looking beyond the technicalities of the law and going after the powerful.

Both Mallya and Roy failed to understand that when it was time to show contrition, they showed arrogance.

India’s institutions are in internal reform mode, and powerful people are not going to get away lightly by pretending they can buy their way out with just the help of smart-talking lawyers.

There are lessons here not just for Mallya and Roy, but all of India’s powerful politicians and businessmen.

 

Sahara chief Subrata Roy seeks 10 more days from Supreme Court to sell properties

PTI | 5 Sep, 2014, 05.55PM IST

NEW DELHI: Sahara Chief Subrata Roytold the Supreme Court that almost finalised deals to sell his three luxury hotels in New York and London has hit a roadblock and is on the verge of collapse and sought ten days more time to sell the properties to raise Rs 10,000 crore to be deposited with SEBI to get bail. 

Appearing before a bench headed by Justice T S Thakur, Roy's counsel submitted that there have been huge protests outside the hotels after an International newspaper published story that Sultan of Brunei is buying the properties. 

A very serious problem has cropped up in the last three days after the paper reported that Sultan of Brunei is buying the properties, he said. 

Following this, there have been very violent protests outside the hotels and the buyers are "reconsidering the deal which is now on the verge of being scrapped," senior advocate S Ganesh told the court. 

He urged the court to grant Roy 10 days more time to hold negotiations to save the deal or to talk with 3-4 other buyers who are on line to buy the properties. 

"It is very unfortunate incident and it is a setback for us. It is beyond our control," he said asking the bench to consider his plea for extention of time on Monday. 

The court said that it will take up his plea if it is possible for the special bench, hearing his case, to assemble on that day. 

The apex court had on August 1 allowed Roy and two directors of his group to use the conference room in Tihar jail complex for 10 days from August 5 to hold negotiations with potential buyers. The time period was furhter extended for 15 days on August 14.

From jail, Roy finds golden suitors for hotels abroad

 BS Reporter  |  New Delhi  

August 15, 2014 Last Updated at 00:59 IST

MoUs inked at 50% higher value, lawyers tell SC; court gives 15 days more for deal talks

Within a week of moving to his make-shift office in Tihar jailhere, Sahara group chief Subrata Roy seems to have achieved what his men could not in months. The 66-year-old tycoon has convinced several suitors to sign preliminary agreements to buy the group's prime hotel properties in New York and London.

Some of the potential buyers were valuing these assets at prices substantially higher than indicated earlier, the group's lawyers told the Supreme Court on Thursday, and sought a 15-day extension for Roy's jail-office set-up. The court granted this but made it clear that there would be no further extensions of this arrangement.

The extension implies Roy can operate out of his jail-office till September 9 and arrange the amount required to be paid for his interim bail.

The court had in March said that Roy and two group directors could get interim bail, provided the group deposited Rs 5,000 crore in cash and another Rs 5,000 crore in the form of bank guarantees. Of the required sum, Sahara has so far paid Rs 3,117 crore. The group's dues, according to market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), have touched Rs 39,000 crore.

The apex court had ordered two group firms - Sahara India Real Estate Corp and Sahara Housing Invest - to refund sums raised from 29.6 million investors with a 15 per cent interest. The group is trying to raise this amount by selling assets, mostly real estate and hospitality-sector properties, as the court has refused to accept its claims of having directly refunded most investors.

On the block are the group's stakes in London's Grosvenor House Hotel and New York's Plaza and Dream Downtown hotels. According to earlier submissions in the court, based on international valuers JLL and CBRE, Sahara's stakes in these assets were valued at around $1.72 billion (around Rs 10,500 crore at an exchange rate of Rs 61 a dollar). Grosvenor House was valued at $879 million (Rs 5,361 crore), the Plaza holding was worth $592 million (Rs 3,611 crore) and the Dream Downtown stake was valued at $252 million (Rs 1,537 crore). The total of these comes to $1.72 billion. But Sahara lawyer S Ganesh on Thursday told the court that some buyers had now valued these assets at $2.58 billion, nearly 50 per cent higher.

If indeed the valuation has seen such an increase, this could enable the group to meet the bail requirements even without an outright sale of these properties. The group had indicated in the past that it might try to come up with some mortgage arrangements.

In a statement issued after the hearing, Sahara advocate Gautam Awasthi said: "By utilising the facilities made available to the detenues, a considerable progress has been made in relation to negotiations on the three foreign properties and for furnishing the bank guarantee. Appreciating the progress made, the Supreme Court allowed an extension of 15 working days starting August 20 to facilitate fruition of the continuing negotiations. The jail authorities have also appreciated the discipline and conduct of Saharas in using the facilities in a constructive manner."

Awasthi added the three applicants "will effectively negotiate with prospective purchasers of the foreign properties and for furnishing the bank guarantee towards compliance of the Supreme Court order".

Media reports had suggested Pune-based billionaire Cyrus Poonawalla and US-based Madison Capital Holdings were interested in these properties. However, Poonawalla said in a statement on Thursday: "Getting a partner that is valuing the Grosvenor House more than what we valued is not possible. We did not hear back from them after our conversation almost a month ago. They did not even approach us to see if we were interested in increasing our bid. As for us, we were interested in a particular asset, that too for its location and history. All the best to Sahara." Poonawalla was ready to pay up to £550 million (around Rs 5,500 crore), according to these reports. The group also has to meet its commitments towards Bank of China, which will have precedence over the claims of the market regulator.

BREAKTHROUGH?
Value of Sahara stake in key hotels abroad*

Grosvenor House, London
$879 million

The Plaza, New York
$592 million

The Dream Downtown, New York $252 million
Total
$1.72 billion

Total valuation
** according to Sahara: $2.58bn
Difference: $860 mn (50%)

* According to international valuers’ report filed in court
** According to the Sahara lawyer’s statement

Can Subrata Roy get an office: SC to jailers

TNN | Jul 26, 2014, 12.10AM 

The Supreme Court on Friday asked Tihar Jail authorities in Delhi whether they could make available office space with Wi-Fi and internet facilities to help detained Sahara group chairman Subrata Roy finalize negotiations for sale of three hotels in London and New York. Roy and Sahara group had identified a guest house within the Tihar Jail complex but solicitor general Ranjit Kumar informed the court that it was close to the staff quarters and had not been designated as a prison.

"Communication facilities can be set up at the guest house, which could also be designated as a jail by the lieutenant governor for a specified period of the day during which Roy and Sahara group's identified personnel could use it for negotiations for the sale of assets," he said.

Appearing for Roy, senior advocate K T S Tulsi said important prospective buyers from abroad were in Delhi and the Sahara chief would like to participate in the final phase of negotiations to get the best price for the assets so as to enable him to raise the money needed for getting out of jail on interim bail. A bench of Justices T S Thakur, A R Dave and A K Sikri asked the SG to explore the possibility of providing Roy office facility in Tihar, where he has been lodged since March 4. The court had told him that he could come out on interim bail if he deposited Rs 5,000 crore in cash and Rs 5,000 crore in bank guarantee with market regulator Sebi.

Why more than a dozen lawyers couldn’t keep Subrata Roy out of jail

Fbiz Editor 5 Mar 14

How many high-powered lawyers does it take to keep one bigwig out of jail? Two? Three? Five?

Well, if the gentleman we are talking about is one Subrata Roy, boss of the Sahara Group, even 16 lawyers have not been able to keep him out. Some of the 16 doubled up as lawyers for three group directors who are also in the dock with Roy for failure to comply with the Supreme Court’s orders of August 2012 for the refund of Rs 24,000 crore raised illegally by two Sahara companies.

Roy is in hot water – and in Tihar jail till 11 March, along with two directors – because he claims he has paid the money back to investors, many of them fictitious, when the court asked him to route the payments through Sebi.

Sixteen lawyers apparently could not make him understand this simple point. The bench made a sharp observation on this.

“All through, you have engaged the best and the most bright counsel for arguing your case but you have not made payment to investors," the bench with Justices KS Radhakrishnan and JS Khehar said.

The roster of Sahara lawyers starts with senior advocate and maverick BJP MP Ram Jethmalani and included Ravi Shankar Prasad, Rajeev Dhavan and CA Sundaram, among others.

At yesterday’s hearing, Subrata Roy’s lawyers came up with many explanations for his failure to comply with its orders, including that it would be wrong to ask Roy to cough up money for investors who had already been paid.

Justice Radhakrishnan rubbished Sahara’s claim that the money had been paid directly to investors as “absolutely wrong”.

Even as Roy’s lawyers tried their best to get him out of the hole, Roy himself managed to dig himself in deeper

The best exchange came when an exasperated court explained why it had to deal harshly with Roy. The bench said: “You pushed us to the corner. Had you been serious, this position would not have arisen."

At some point, Roy told the court: “I am giving an assurance I will pay the money to you."

Justice Khehar gave him a curt rejoinder: “We don't need from anything from you.”

Roy, now lodged in Tihar, will be wondering what he did wrong with 16 lawyers on his side.

10 things you need to know about Sahara row

Shishir Asthana  |  B S : Mumbai  February 28, 2014  11:00 IST

On Feb 26, SC issued a non-bailable warrant against Subrata Roy after
 he failed to turn up in court for hearing

Sahara chief Subrata Roy’s days of evading the law are finally over. 
The Lucknow police has taken him into custody following the issuance of a 
non-bailable warrant by theSupreme court, after he failed to appear in court.
 The Sahara Supremo will be produced before the court on March 4. 

The irritation of the judges on Roy’s evasion tactics can be understood from 
their statement where they told Roy’s counsel that even if we retire; we will 
ensure that the order is implemented.

Along with the Supreme Court the only reason that Subrata Roy will 

be behind bars is because of the hard work of a whole-time director of

 Sebi, K M Abraham. It was Abraham’s watertight investigation in the entire

 Sahara OFCD issue that the case might see its logical end.

 

Before we look at the chronological events that led to this Supreme Court

 order, an explanation of OFCD is needed.

 

OFCDs are optionally fully convertible debentures. They are issued by the 

company to potential investors in order to raise money. OFCD holders can

 become shareholders of the company if they choose to do so. Generally

 (which is true in the case of Sahara) there is no asset marked against such

 investment. In other words, they are unsecured in nature and in case of a 

default and liquidation of the company, they will be one of the last stakeholders 

to be refunded.

 

Sahara’s case is all about OFCD and its investor. But its root is in a ruling by

 the Reserve Bank of India in 2008. Here is a chronological list of how events 

unfolded from 2008 to the issuance of non-bailable warrant to Sahara chief.

 

1. In 2008, RBI debarred Sahara India Financial Corporation from raising fresh 

deposits. The growth of Sahara’s empire was always a mystery; many believed

 it ran a Ponzi scheme by collecting funds from investors. The group needed 

continuous flow of fresh funds to keep it afloat. With RBI closing a door on the

 group from collecting deposits from the people, the group needed a financial

 instrument that would be out of the purview of RBI but still get access to public

 funds.

 

2. Sahara decided to issue OFCDs by floating two companies – Sahara India Real 

Estate Corporation (SIREC) and Sahara Housing Investment Corporation (SHIC).

 It was the Registrar of Companies (ROC) that needed to clear these investment 

vehicles.

 

3. ROCs role in the entire episode is critical since it cleared the proposal without 

raising the most basic questions. Consider these facts. Both the companies had 

negligible net worth. SIREC had an equity capital of only Rs 10 lakh and a negative 

net worth at the time of issuance while the net worth of SHIC was around Rs 10 lakh. 

But both the companies planned to raise Rs 20,000 crore each. Imagine applying for 

a bank loan of Rs 20,000 crore with only Rs 10 lakh as your contribution. A banker 

would fall laughing on such a proposal, but ROC allowed the Sahara Group companies 

to go ahead with the proposal. More than one law was flouted by Sahara in issuing 

these OFCDs, which it calls private placement.

 

4. Firstly, the sheer size of the issue makes it a public issue. Any company seeking 

money from more than 50 persons has to take the approval of Sebi in doing so,

 in which case the company would have to make all the disclosures required as per

 Sebi norms. The Sahara group had sought money from nearly 30 million investors.

 Apart from the size and number of investors, another deliberate error was keeping

 the issue open ended; ideally such issues should be closed within six weeks. In fact a

 Sahara group company kept an issue of Rs 17,250 crore open for 10 years.

 

5. Sahara’s money-making machine could have continued had it not committed 

another major mistake. Sahara decided to tap the stock markets to raise money 

through Sahara Prime City. In doing so the company had to file a Red Herring 

Prospectus and disclose working and financials of other group companies.

 This is when K M Abraham spotted SIREC and SHIC and found that the money

 raised through OFCDs was camouflaged as private placements.  

 

6. Abraham found out that even though the Sahara group companies collected 

money they did not have proper records of the identity of its investors. 

How and to whom would they then return the money? Even professional

 agencies were unable to locate the investors.

 

7. The two companies, Abraham alleged, intended to rotate money between

 group companies. Though the OFCD instruments were issued in the name 

of the two companies, cheques were sought in the name of Sahara India.

 

8. When Sebi issued its order on the wrongdoings of the Sahara group on 

June 23, 2011, Sahara group took the matter with Securities Appellate

 Tribunal (SAT). But SAT held the Sebi findings to be correct. SAT in its order

 said “What it (Red Herring Prospectus) did not disclose was the fact that 

the information memorandum was being issued to more than 30 million 

persons inviting them to subscribe to the OFCDs and there lies the catch…

This concealment is, indeed, very significant    and goes to the root of the

 controversy.”

 

9. Sahara group then approached the Supreme Court but in August 2012, 

the honourable court asked the group to repay an amount of over 

Rs 24,000 crore to Sebi within 90 days. The regulator will then distribute 

the money to bonafide investors. But suddenly Sahara said it had repaid 

most of the money over the last one year and an amount of just over 

Rs 5,000 crore was pending.

 

10. In the October hearing Supreme Court had clearly hinted that it was

 no longer amused by the delaying tactics of the Sahara group and would 

detain the group’s officials till the payments are made. The Supreme Court 

Bench had said that previous orders not been compiled with and that was 

why Roy and the directors were been summoned to explain the delay. 

Roy did not turn up, thus the non-bailable warrant with an order to appear 

before the court on March 4.

I have started hating myself: Full text of Subrata Roy's statement

 

Press Release

28.02.2014
8.00 AM
Lucknow

Last evening I had gone out of Sahara Shaher, Lucknow, to consult with 
a panel of doctors with certain medical reports of my mother and then
 I had gone to a lawyers' house also.
 
I was informed by my family members that police had come and they 
said something to media amd then whole media in the country started 
saying that I am absconding?
 
I am not that human being, who will abscond. Infact, being a law-abiding 
citizen, I shall hate myself to do any such thing ever in my life.
 
There is no direction against me by Hon'ble Supreme Courtin its order 
dated 31.08.2012 & 05.12.2012 and inspite I am facing all of this.
 
I am absconding? I have started hating myself. Now I can't handle this leve
l of agony and humiliation. I feel ashamed and sad for some negative minded,
 emotionally confined media people (like few  journalists  vomited venom 
against Sahara today who were some time back thrown out of Sahara)
 and who are probably not remained as human being. They are bullying 
and indulging in character assassination of a son who is trying to perform
 his emotional duty towards his ailing mother, in my absence, I shall never 
forget in my life those people.
 
A lot of people advised me to get admitted in some hospital and I can remain
 there as it is the general practice to avoid courts on medical grounds, however, 
I hate to do such drama.
 
I have already informed police to do their duty as per direction of 
Hon'ble Supreme Court.
 
I am in Lucknow and with folded hands and with all humility I appeal to the 
Hon'ble Judges that if Hon'ble Court can allow to live me with my ailing 
mother under house arrest till 3rd of March 2014.
 
But I leave it now on the Hon'ble Judges. If they call me today at Delhi, I shall reach there, or whatever direction Hon'ble Supreme court shall give to me today, I shall unconditionally follow.
 
I am sending this letter to all media, to Hon'ble Judges.
 
Subrata Roy Sahara
 
Editor’s note: This is a verbatim copy of Subrata Roy Sahara’s press release. 

Subrata Roy arrested, to be in custody till March 4

BS Virendra Singh Rawat, N Sundaresha Subramanian & M J Antony  |

  Lucknow/ New Delhi  March 1, 2014 Last Updated at 00:58 IST

Could be lodged in a guest house outside Lucknow; group holds 

on to refund theory

The law seemed to have finally caught up with the “eldest son” of “

the world’s largest family”, as Sahara group chiefSubrata Roy was

 arrested from his palatial house in Lucknow’s Sahara Shaher on Friday.

Lucknow Chief Judicial Magistrate Anand Kumar sent the 65-year-old 

parabanking tycoon to police custody and directed officials to produce 

him before the Supreme Court on March 4. Officials said it would be the

 Lucknow Police’s discretion to decide where Roy would be lodged but 

sources suggested he could be kept in a guest house outside the city.

Earlier in the day, there was a frantic but abortive attempt by Roy’s counsel,

 Ram Jethmalani, to get the non-bailable warrant issued against Roy

 recalled by the Supreme Court. He approached the Bench headed by

 judge K S Radhakrishnan and pleaded the Court’s earlier order to 

arrest Roy be cancelled, since he had already surrendered in Lucknow.

The judge, who was part of a different Bench on Friday, said the original

 Bench that passed the order could not be constituted immediately and

 the roster could not be changed. So, whatever applications Roy wanted

 to place before the Bench would normally come up only on Tuesday, 

the original date of hearing.

Roy, who has called himself an “emotional” man in the past, seemed 

peeved by media reports quoting police officials as saying that he 

was not found by his mother’s side as claimed by his lawyers before

 the Supreme Court.

Explaining his absence by his mother’s side, Roy said in a press statement
: “Last evening, I had gone out of Sahara Shaher, Lucknow, to consult with
 a panel of doctors with certain medical reports of my mother and then I 
had gone to a lawyers’ house also. I was informed by my family members 
that police had come and they said something to media and then whole 
media in the country started saying that I am absconding? I am not that 
human being, who will abscond. Infact, being a law-abiding citizen,
 I shall hate myself to do any such thing ever in my life...” [SIC].

The group’s communications continued to blow hot, blow cold on the Supreme
 Court, while its sharp criticism were reserved for the Securities and
 Exchange Board of India (Sebi) and the media. On the one hand,
 Roy appealed to the Supreme Court “with folded hands” for 
emotional and humanitarian consideration, while on the other 
he continued to argue through press notes and releases that 
his group companies had already repaid its investors as directed by the apex court.

Two Sahara group companies, Sahara India Real Estate Corporation
 (SIRECL) and Sahara Housing Invest Corporation (SHICL) are contesting
 contempt proceedings initiated by the Securities and Exchange Board of I
ndia (Sebi), in connection with an August 2012 order of the Supreme 
Court. The Court had directed the companies to repay Sebi the 
Rs 24,029 crore it had collected in breach of law. The capital markets
 regulator was to, in turn, refund the money to individual depositors 
concerned. However, according to Sebi, Sahara paid only Rs 5,120 crore.
 The Sahara firms, on the other hand, have been claiming that the remaining 
amount was refunded directly to investors.

On February 20, while directing personal appearance of Roy, the apex 
court had refused to entertain the arguments of premature refunds and
 pointed out that the refund argument had been rejected on two earlier 
occasions by the Court. Sahara continued to insist: “It has been wrongly
 communicated in some reports in the media that Sahara had to pay
 Rs 20,000 crore and Sahara could not prove its claim that it had repaid. 
The fact is, the company has repaid all the liabilities of OFCD (optionally fully
-convertible debentures) except around Rs 2,000 crore.”

Even this Rs 2,000 crore, Sahara claimed, was covered by the Rs 5,120 crore 
deposited with Sebi. The statement added “in last 17 months, Sebi has not 
done even one per cent verification. It is a great strategy of Sebi and that is
 why the sword is continuously hanging on us.”

Roy, who was taken through the rear gate to the magistrate, had said in 
his morning statement: “I feel ashamed and sad for some negative-minded,
 emotionally confined media people (like a few journalists vomited venom 
against Sahara today, who were sometime back thrown out of Sahara) and
 who are probably not remained as human being. They are bullying and
 indulging in character assassination of a son who is trying to perform his 
emotional duty towards his ailing mother [SIC].” In an assertion that sounded
 like a warning, the statement added: “God forbids if any untoward thing 
happens with my mother, in my absence, I shall never forget in my life 
those people [SIC].”

The group, in the midst of a sudden vacuum at the top, presented Roy’s 
younger son, Seemanto Roy, at a press conference in Delhi to 
reassure “1.2 million kartavyayogis and 80 million investors”. Seemanto, 
who was reading out a statement drafted in an emotional language, typical 
of the group, concluded by saying: “Sri Subrata Roy Sahara to me is not 
only a doting father but also a patriotic son of the soil who has contributed
 immensely to the country.” Recalling his father’s contribution to support 
martyrs of the Kargil war and the victims of the 26/11 terror attack and
 natural calamities, said: “Today it pains me to see his reputation and image
 maligned in this manner. I humbly seek your support and cooperation.”