The Supreme Court on Tuesday reiterated that unless the Sahara Group furnished details to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) of the Rs 22,885 crore it claimed to have paid its investors, its head Subrata Roy would not be allowed to leave the country.
A bench of Justices K S Radhakrishnan and J S Khehar said it would not relax its order restraining Roy from leaving the country, and also warned the company that if it failed to show the source of the money the court would direct “further probe” against the group.
“Everything is going in a circle. We want to finish this aspect of the case on the next date of hearing,” said the bench, brushing aside a plea by Roy’s counsel claiming that he would return by the next date of hearing if allowed to go abroad for business purposes only.
“If you give the source then a day after we would allow you to go abroad,” said the bench, directing the group to provide all the documents, including the bank statements sought by the Sebi, before February 11, when it would take up the case for further hearing.
The apex court on November 21 barred Roy from leaving the country and also restrained the group from selling any of its properties.
At a previous hearing, the court had warned the group of strong action, including CBI probe into its accounts, if the conglomerate failed to disclose the source of the Rs 22,000 crore.
The court was hearing contempt petitions filed by Sebi against Roy, the firms Sahara India Real Estate Corp Ltd and Sahara India Housing Investment Corp Ltd, and their directors, for allegedly flouting its orders.
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