The Supreme Court of India told Sahara Group chief Subrata Roy to deposit £60 million in a SEBI-Sahara refund account by February 6, or go to jail. A court bench also said that "too much indulgence" has already been given to the Sahara chief. The company has so far returned a total of £ 1.80 billion to its investors.
The bench initially asked Roy to deposit £100 million with market regulator SEBI in two months or it will appoint a receiver, but later reduced the money to be deposited to £60 million by February 6. SEBI had earlier said that Sahara was liable to pay £3.70 billion with interest, of which the principal amount payable was £2.40 billion. Roy was sent to jail on May 4, 2014, for his failure to comply with a 2012 order directing him to return investors' £1.76 billion with 15 per cent interest, which his two companies Sahara India Real Estate Corp Ltd and Sahara Housing Finance Corp Ltd had raised through optionally fully convertible debentures in 2007 and 2008.
