Supreme Court extends Subrata Roy's parole till August 3, okays Sahara-Qatar deal

In a relief to Sahara Group chief Subrata Roy, the Supreme Court on Monday extended his parole till August 3, 2016.

Zee Media Bureau

New Delhi: The Supreme Court extended the parole of Sahara  chief Subrata Roy's till Aug 3 on condition of his depositing Rs 300 crore or more to Sebi as stipulation for bail.

Court also told Roy that parole was given on humanitarian grounds and it should not be misused. It warned Roy 'either pay or go back to jail'.

As per media reports,  Roy had requested the top court to indefinitely extend the parole granted to him on May 6, after spending over two years in Tihar jail. The top court had granted parole for four weeks to attend rituals following the death Roy's mother.

The top court also approved Sahara's interest in the sale of its three overseas hotels​- Grosvenor House Hotel (London), Plaza Hotel (New York) and Dream Downtown Hotel (New York) to Qatar Investment Authority (QIA)”, which is Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund.

The Sahara group on Friday had sought the Supreme Court’s nod for sale of the properties to Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) for $1.6 billion.

The company claims that freezing the group’s bank accounts by the top court has crippled the group's business interests.

Subrata Roy faced imprisonment on March 4, 2014, when Sahara group failed to refund thousands of crores to investors in a bond programme which was termed illegal.

The SC had set bail amount of Rs 10,000 crore, which the group was finding it tough to cough up.

“In compliance of the May 11 order, the applicants are depositing Rs 200 crore, despite Sebi’s non-cooperation, which establishes their bona fide. In addition, efforts are being made to further arrange approximately Rs 300 crore in respect of which directions are being sought from the court,” the application filed by Roy on Friday read.