NEW DELHI: In yet another setback for scandal-ridden Sahara Group, India's capital market regulator SEBI has moved the Supreme Court asking it to direct the company's controversial chief Subrata Roy and two of his companies to deposit a whopping Rs 62,602 crore that it says is due to its investors.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) in its plea said that if the parties are unable deposit the amount demanded, then they should be taken into custody. Since 2016, Sahara chief Roy has been out on bail after being arrested in March 2014 for failing to attend a contempt of court hearing.
In its petition, SEBI told the apex court that Sahara had failed to comply with the 2012 and 2015 court orders to deposit the entire amount it had collected from investors along with a 15 per cent annual interest payment. Sahara, however, has repeatedly denied the allegations of fraud.
Sahara had previously told the court that it had refunded most of the money it collected from investors and submitted relevant documents to SEBI. The regulator had also invited claimants through advertisements in many newspapers, but said last year that it would not entertain anymore claims, it said.
According to a Reuters report, a Sahara spokesperson disputed the amount being claimed by SEBI, stating the company had already deposited about Rs 22000 crore with the regulator. “How can there be claimants since Sahara has already paid back, long time back... It is a typical case of double payment,” the spokesperson said.
Sahara’s dispute with market regulator dates back to the UPA-2 era. Sahara, which had once been a major conglomerate operating several businesses in India, had been embroiled in a battle with SEBI over repaying thousands of crores of rupees to the public who had bought in a Sahara scheme that was later ruled as illegal.
On Thursday, SEBI moved the SC seeking the recovery of the the full liability amount from Sahara’s two companies. “Contemnors are in gross violation of various orders passed by the apex court regarding entire monies collected with interest. However, contemnors have, till date neglected and failed to comply with various orders passed by this court”.