IN a blow to the Sahara group, the Supreme Court on Wednesday issued a non-ballable warrant against its chief Subrata Roy, after he failed to appear in the court. On Tuesday the apex court had rejected his plea seeking exemption from personal appearance in a contempt case.
Earlier, the court had allowed SEBI to go ahead with the sale of Sahara properties. The court had on February 20 came down heavily on the Sahara group for not refunding Rs 20,000 crore of investors’ money despite its order and summoned Roy to be personally present before it.
The apex court had on November 21, 2013 barred Roy from leaving the country and also restrained the group from selling any of its properties.
The case relates to Sahara Housing Investment Corporation Ltd (SHICL) and Sahara India Real Estate Corp Ltd (SIRECL) raising more than Rs 24,000 from an estimated 3 crore investors through issuance of certain bonds between 2008 and 2009.
SEBI, however, charged them of having raised these funds illegally and restrained them in November 2010 from mobilising further funds. Subsequently, SEBI ordered refund of money through an order passed in June 2011.
The matter later reached the Supreme Court, which passed an order on August 31, 2012 asking Sahara firms to deposit the money with SEBI for refund of investors’ money. (Agency).