Supreme Court stays arrest of Sahara chief Subrata Roy

The Supreme Court on Friday stayed the arrest of Sahara group chief Subrata Roy, as per the order of the Patna High Court earlier in the day.

The top court also stayed further proceedings against him in a cheating case where he was asked to explain his plan to refund matured deposits to the small investors of his group companies.

A bench presided over by Justice A M Khanwilkar passed the order, in a relief to Roy, after hearing senior counsel Kapil Sibal and V Giri on his behalf.

The High Court had issued arrest warrant against Roy for not being present in the court on Friday morning despite clear directions.

Roy was initially expected to appear on Thursday but was given one more day.

In their arguments, the counsel submitted Roy or the Sahara Group had no nexus with the original criminal complaint and the Sahara chief was not a party to the cases.

They said the High Court had issued a summoning order in the “most arbitrary manner.”

On Friday, the High Court had further directed the Bihar DGP to produce Roy physically before it at 10:30 am on May 16.

“It seems that Roy has no respect for the orders of this court...and this court has no option, but to order the authorities to produce Roy," the High Court said while hearing various anticipatory bail applications filed in cheating cases committed by non-banking finance companies (NBFCs).

More than 600 applications are pending for the release of the matured amount by the Sahara company.

Roy, in his appeal, had contended that the High Court could not have used its powers under Section 438 CrPC to “virtually convert the anticipatory bail proceedings into an omnibus exercise for recovering disputed dues and resolving alleged claims of fraud and cheating involving the public at large in Bihar.”