SC extends Subrata Roy's parole till September 23

New Delhi, Sep 16: Supreme Court today extended the parole of Sahara chief Subrata Roy till September 23, granted to him in May on humanitarian grounds after his mother passed away. The parole continued later to enable him arrange money to refund his investors.

The decision to extend the relief was taken by a bench headed by Chief Justice T S Thakur in-chamber as his parole was to end today. The regular special bench of CJI and Justices A R Dave and A K Sikri was not available.

Sahara's lawyer Keshav Mohan said that a draft of Rs 353 crore has been deposited in the SEBI-Sahara account. The bench extended the relief to 68-year-old Roy till September 23, the next date of hearing.

The apex court on September 2 had asked the Sahara Group to come clean by disclosing its sources from where it had raised Rs 25,000 crore and paid its investors in cash, observing that it is "difficult to digest" as such a huge amount "cannot fall from the heavens."

It had earlier extended Roy's parole on August 3 till today with a condition that he has to deposit to Rs 300 crore with SEBI. The apex court had granted parole to Roy on May 6 for four weeks on humanitarian ground following the death of his mother Chhabi Roy in Lucknow after prolonged illness. Besides Roy, the court had also granted parole to a jailed Sahara director, Ashok Roy Choudhary.

It had said they were free to meet prospective buyers of properties and move within the country under police escort. Roy has been lodged in Tihar jail since March 4, 2014 on the orders of the apex court in relation with a long running dispute with market regulator SEBI.

PTI