NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed Sahara Group chief Subrata Roy, who has been in jail for the last five months, to use the conference room in Tihar jail complex for negotiation with potential buyers of his luxury hotels in New York and London to raise `10,000 crore to get regular bail.
A Bench headed by Justice T S Thakur asked the Sahara Group boss to give details of the gadgets, such as phone and computer, needed by him to get in touch with the buyers from overseas and submit a concrete proposal by Friday.
The court posted the case for passing order on Friday after Roy gave the details of things which will be needed for holding negotiations.
Tihar jail authorities suggested that Roy can hold consultations either in the conference room or the guest house within the jail complex with a condition that people would be allowed to come inside jail only between 6 am to 8 pm and internet connection would be provided by it.
Opting for the option of a conference hall in the Tihar jail court complex, senior counsel Harish Salve, appearing for Roy, expressed some difficulty with the lock out time of 6 am and lock in time of 8 pm because it did not facilitate negotiations with buyers or lenders in New York.
He also expressed some reservations about jail authorities not allowing secretarial staff to stay beyond 8 pm.
At this, the court asked Salve to submit a concrete proposal to the jail authorities and find some way out which the court could consider on Friday.
The Sahara Group boss had pleaded that he was committed to follow the apex court’s direction and sought its permission to shift to jail guest house for a week to enable him to hold negotiations to sell off his properties in India and abroad to raise `10,000 crore.
The court had earlier refused to release Roy on interim bail or parole, but had allowed selling of his luxury hotels in New York and London to raise money to deposit `10,000 crore with the SEBI as directed to get regular bail.
It had also appointed senior advocate Shekhar Naphade as amicus curiae to assist the court.
Roy, who was sent to jail on March 4 this year for non- refund of over `20,000 crore to depositors, was asked by the court to pay `10,000 crore to get bail, out of which `5,000 crore in cash and rest of the amount in bank guarantee.