SC refuses to grant more time to Sahara chief Subrata Roy to pay Rs 600 crore

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to grant more time to the Sahara chief Subrata Roy to pay Rs 600 crore.

"If Sahara Chief does not pay the amount by Feb 6, he shall commit himself to jail," the apex court said.

Roy has cited demonetisation and economic slowdown for extension of time to pay Rs 600 crore. The Supreme Court, however, granted liberty to Sahara chief to transfer Rs 285 crore deposited in London Bank to SEBI.

"Too much indulgence has already been given to Sahara, more than any other litigant," the court said.

A three-judge bench, comprising the then CJI and Justices Ranjan Gogoi and A K Sikri, had asked Roy on November 28 last year to deposit Rs 600 crore more by February 6 this year in the SEBI-Sahara refund account to remain out of jail and had cautioned him that in case of failure, he would have to return to prison.

The bench, initially, had asked Roy to deposit Rs 1,000 crore with market regulator SEBI in two months or it will appoint a receiver, but later reduced the money to be deposited to Rs 600 crore till February 6, 2017.

Market regulator SEBI had earlier said that Sahara Group was liable to pay Rs 37,000 crore with interest to SEBI, of which the principal amount payable was Rs 24,000 crore.

Sahara has already paid Rs 10,918 crore out of Rs 24,029 crore raised from investors, SEBI had said.

The court has been extending the parole of Roy and two directors -- Ashok Roy Choudhary and Ravi Shankar Dubey -- on payment of certain amount in the SEBI-Sahara refund account.