JOIN USThe Supreme Court on Friday gave the Sahara group an option of substantiating its claims of refunding Rs 24,000 crore to its investors, leading to closure of the proceedings against its head Subrata Roy and other directors.
A three-judge bench presided over by Chief Justice T S Thakur also wondered about the sources of such a huge amount of money.
“Though we don’t doubt the capacity of your client to pay crores of money to investors, that too in cash in two months, the entire explanation of the episode is difficult to digest. Tell us the source of the cash and there will be no need to open the pandora’s box,” the bench, also comprising Justices Anil R Dave and A K Sikri, told senior advocate Kapil Sibal.
The court also asked Sibal, appearing for the group, to reveal if the monies were obtained from other companies, schemes or whether Sahara withdrew it from bank accounts or sold its property.
The query came after Sibal claimed the group had raised and paid back Rs 18,000 crore to its investors in cash and cheques and the market regulator, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), was running away from zeroing in on crores of investors.
Sibal claimed that the group had already filed an affidavit explaining everything.
The court posted the matter for further consideration on September 16.