New Delhi :The Supreme Court on Friday asked jailed Sahara chief Subrata Roy to furnish Rs 5,000 crore in cash and a bank guarantee of equal amount to secure his release from prison.
Roy will, however, remain in jail as senior advocate Kapil Sibal, who is appearing for the former, told the court that there was a difficulty in furnishing the bank guarantee of Rs 5,000 crore as one of the financial institutions had backed out. A bench of justices T S Thakur, A R Dave and A K Sikri, while pronouncing its order, said, “We have accepted the format of bank guarantees”, subject to certain conditions.
The court also asked the 65-year-old Roy, who has been in Tihar jail since March 4, 2014, to pay Rs 36,000 crore to the SEBI within 18 months and in nine installments from the date of release.
It also allowed market regulator SEBI to encash the bank guarantees to be furnished by the Sahara chief, in case he defaults in the payment of two installments. The bench further said that if Roy defaults in payment of three installments, then he will have to surrender and go back to jail.
“We direct them (Roy and two other jailed directors) to deposit their passport with the court. They shall not leave the country without prior permission of this court,” the bench said.
It also asked Roy to keep apprising fortnightly the Tilak Marg police station about movements inside the country. The bench, meanwhile, extended by eight weeks the facilities like telephone and internet to Roy inside the jail.
