On Friday (November 20, 2020), the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) sought the Supreme Court's instructions to revoke the parole and take custody of Sahara Chief Subrata Roy for his alleged failure to return money to his investors. The SEBI demanded Rs. 62,602 crores from Sahara, which it had received previously.
Meanwhile, the Sahara group has claimed that SEBI was “acting biased” and is raising a “wrong demand” by asking for Rs 62,602 crores or $8.48 billion.
“It is absolutely wrong demand by SEBI. Hon’ble Supreme court has in the past directed us to deposit the principal amount which is around Rs 24,700 Crore and already there are more than Rs. 22,000 crore deposited. SEBI has mischievously added 15% interest from the beginning so they are very wrongfully mentioning $8.48 billion,” Sahara group said in an emailed statement on Thursday (November 19, 2020).
The statement further read, “In reality, SEBI had advertised in about 150 newspapers across the country inviting claimants, but they could only pay investors around Rs. 107 Crore. Also, in the last advertisement that appeared almost a year ago, SEBI mentioned that they would not entertain any more claimants. That implies that no more claimants at all remain. How can claimants be because the Sahara has already paid back, back a long time ago. SEBI behaves in a biassed way. It is a typical double payment case.”
The market regulator said the outstanding liability of the two companies of the Sahara India Parivar group and the chief of the group, Roy, stood at Rs 62,600 crore, including interest.
The case dates back to 2012, when the top court ruled that the conglomerate headed by Subrata Roy violated securities laws and earned more than $3.5 billion illegally. When SEBI began to trace investors, it uncovered huge loopholes and sent Roy to prison.
