Supreme Court rejects Sahara’s house arrest plea; Subrata Roy to be in Tihar

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected Sahara’s plea to shift Subrata Roy to house arrest.

Sahara lawyers had made a plea before the top court for release of its chief, saying that the group is looking for global buyers to sell its assets and no international buyer would like to visit the jail to negotiate a deal.

Sahara chief's counsel Ram Jethmalani also said Mr Roy may be kept under house arrest with conditions like reporting to the court every day.

However, Supreme Court told Mr Jethmalani that “we haven't punished you. You are under our custody.”

The next hearing is scheduled for April 16.

Mr Subrata Roy was arrested on February 28 and has been held in a Delhi jail since March 4 after failing to appear at a contempt hearing in a long-running legal battle between the group and the securities regulator over the refund of billions of dollars to investors in outlawed bonds.

The core business of Sahara, which owns New York's Plaza Hotel and London's Grosvenor House and is the former main sponsor of India's national cricket team, includes selling financial products, largely to small investors in towns and rural areas.

Two such products were ruled to be illegal and the Supreme Court ordered Sahara in 2012 to repay billions of dollars it had raised in the schemes.

While Sahara says it has repaid most investors and its total liability was less than the 51.2 billion rupees it has deposited with the securities regulator, the regulator and the court

It had previously rejected Sahara's proposal to give bank guarantees of 225 billion rupees within three to six months, as well as a subsequent proposal to pay a total of 174 billion rupees in six installments through July 2015.