The Supreme Court on Friday asked the Tihar Jail authorities to consider providing office space and wi-fi connectivity to Sahara chief Subrata Roy, who has sought permission to use Tihar guesthouse as a place to negotiate with prospective buyers for sale of his three overseas hotels.
The Bench, headed by Justice TS Thakur, asked Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar to enquire this aspect and report by Wednesday. Roy, represented through senior advocate KTS Tulsi asked for permission to be shifted from Barrack 3 to Tihar guesthouse in the interest of his clients who required an environment other than in jail custody to negotiate the deal. Three hotels owned by Sahara in london and New York are up for sale as Sahara has to generate money for his release from jail.The Bench while seeking to make arrangement within the jail indicated that its order should not be treated as a precedent. “It is meant only to enable him (Roy) to generate the money needed for interim bail,” the Bench said. Roy has to deposit Rs5,000 crore in cash and another Rs5,000 crore by way of bank guarantee with SEBI. Till date he has only deposited Rs3,117 crore.
Solicitor General informed the court that the guesthouse was not designated as “jail” and would require order from lieutenant Governor.He even raised issues of security and demanded that buyers will be required to give details on a register before entering for negotiations. He even objected to Sahara setting up its own wi-fi system.