BREAKING NEWS Sahara chief Subrata Roy has been taken into custody by the Lucknow police, his lawyer informed the Supreme Court. He was taken into custody at around 10.30am. The Supreme Court has also denied an early hearing into his case, which means that he will remain in custody until the case is next heard on 4 March.
At a press conference this morning, Roy's son Seemanto Roy said the Sahara chief willfully submitted himself before the Lucknow police and that he is cooperating with all authorities. He also said that Sahara is being projected in bad light and that misconceptions are being created by those with vested interests.
"We have 12 lakh employees, and it is our duty to place facts before them," said Seemanto Roy. On February 24, Subrata Roy was informed that the condition of his mother had deteriorated and the situation was critical, said Seemanto. After the urgent call, Subrata Roy hurried back to Lucknow in a private charter to be with his ailing mother. "He is the eldest son and is very attached to his mother," he added. "Sahara shri is not only a doting father for me but also a patriot son of soil,pains me to see his image being maligned," said Seemanto Roy.
The Lucknow police action comes one day after they unsuccessfully raided his home on Thursday evening. The Sahara Chief was not present at his residence at the time. Roy had also moved the Supreme Court seeking the cancellation of the non-bailable arrest warrant issued against him and gave an undertaking to appear before it on 4 March.
The application explained that he was "emotionally and mentally attached" to his 92-year-old mother whose health condition had "worsened" days before the scheduled court appearance, prompting him to leave Delhi for Lucknow. Roy claimed that it was physically impossible to return to Delhi by 26 February, and hence his non-appearance in court was "unintentional".
Given that the warrants were not recalled, the police had to be executed by local police. On 20 February, 2014, the Supreme Court of India had directed Roy to be present in court on 26 February, 2014, to explain the failure of two Sahara group companies to refund an amount of a little over Rs 24,000 crore, raised from investors, by selling optionally fully convertible debentures (OFCDs).
Sahara is a finance to realty conglomerate with huge para-banking operations in the states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. In July 2008, the Reserve Bank of India ordered the group to shut-down its para-banking operations. This, after it found several discrepancies in the books of Sahara. Sahara used to run the para-banking operations through the Sahara India Financial Corporation.
The group raised a large amount of money from people who did not have bank accounts. It even collected small amounts on a daily basis. The controversial group has been running rings around the Supreme Court and Sebi ever since the final order of the Supreme Court in the OFCD case in August 2012.
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