No Immediate Jail For Subrata Roy, Gets Week's Time To Surrender

After apology from Subrata Roy over the behaviour of one of his lawyers, Rajeev Dhavan, in the court, the Supreme Court today asked Sahara chief to surrender by September 30.

Earlier in the day, the top court, refusing to extend Mr Roy's parole, had ordered Sahara chief be sent back to jail. 

Meanwhile, the top court will hear Mr Roy's parole petition on September 28.

Senior lawyer Kapil Sibal, appearing for Sahara chief, conveyed Mr Roy's apology to the top court.
 
"It was an ad hoc arrangement and he (Mr Dhavan) went beyond his brief. Whatever statements he made were uncalled for," Mr Sibal said. 

Mr Sibal, who was unwell, came to court specifically after Supreme Court cancelled Mr Roy's parole and pleaded with the court to withdraw its earlier order. 

Chief Justice TS Thakur, who headed the bench, said: "One can't browbeat the court and throw your weight around. It is also painful for us. It is not we demand respect but the system."
 
Mr Roy is out on parole since May, after spending two years at Delhi's Tihar Jail. 

"You are going back to jail," the court earlier said today, rejecting a plea by Mr Roy's lawyer Rajeev Dhavan to extend parole for some more time. The 68-year-old head of the Sahara group had been granted parole when his mother died in May this year, and it had been extended several times since, the last for a week on September 16.

Mr Dhavan had termed the court's statement as "unfair", arguing that Sahara couldn't sell its properties as they had been attached by market regulator Sebi. The market regulator had earlier argued that the most of the properties in the list given by Sahara are already attached by other authorities so it can't sell them. 

The judges however did not accept Mr Dhavan's arguments.

"Don't tell us what to do. Interim arrangement stands cancelled. Take Roy and two others (directors of Sahara group) be taken back to custody, "they said.

After the court's order, Mr Dhavan, the lawyer for Sahara, told the court, "You are passing this order in anger."

"No question of anger," said Chief Justice TS Thakur, who headed the bench. 

The top court had earlier this month asked the Sahara Group to disclose how it had raised Rs 25,000 crore to pay back its investors in cash, observing that it was "difficult to digest" as such a huge amount "cannot fall from the heavens."