The Supreme Court on Wednesday turned down Sahara chief Subrata Roy’s fervent appeal to be shifted to a civil prison or house arrest as he objected to being kept in an overcrowded prison with other criminals, which was forcing buyers to come forward and negotiate with him in order to raise money for securing his release.
The Bench of Justices KS Radhakrishnan and JS Khehar refused to pass any orders although it clarified, “We have not sent you to prison as that would amount to punishing you. We have said judicial custody. So you are under our custody.”
Sahara’s lawyers tried to convince the court that with their client in Tihar, it was impossible for Roy and his company managers to work out a better deal for his release. The court had directed Roy to be released on condition that he deposited Rs 5,000 crore in cash and Rs 5,000 crore as bank guarantee with SEBI. This was meant to be part-payment of the total sum of over Rs 20000 crore to be repaid by two Sahara firms following irregularities in collection of investor money under a debenture scheme.