The bench of justices consisting of T S Thakur, A R Dave and A K Sikri pronounced the judgement relating to Sahara chief Subrata Roy’s immediate release from Tihar jail and declined to relax the conditions for interim bail like depositing Rs 5000 crore in cash and a bank guarantee of equal amount and set more tough terms including payment of the entire Rs 36,000 crore in 18 months i.e. in nine installments..
The counsel for the accused, Adv. Kapil Sibal said the group was unable to secure the bank guarantee as the financial institution which had agreed to furnish it has backed out when SEBI insisted on fixation of the “trigger point” for enchashing it. The Bench also added that on release if Roy fails to adhere to meet the time frame for depositing money or defaults in payment with SEBI, he will have to surrender to custody, the court further said. They shall not leave the country without prior permission of this Court. Insofar as their movements within the country are concerned, they shall keep police station Tilak Marg, New Delhi informed and updated about their whereabouts every fortnight.
Sibal said it was difficult to secure a bank guarantee of Rs 5000 crore and wanted it to be reduced to Rs 4000 crore. The bench asked him to file an application in this regard and suggested that instead of RS 5,000 crore in cash, Sahara should deposit Rs 6,000 crore in cash.
The bench, meanwhile, extended by eight weeks the facilities like telephone and internet to Roy inside the jail to negotiate deals for arranging the cash and bank guarantee for his release. The court also said that it provided all necessary stimulus to enable Sahara to sell the assets but if the firm has still not been able to achieve the required target, it is either because the efforts made by them “were not adequate or it was their ill-luck”.
