Update-Ink on his face, Night in Tihar jail, “Sahara Shri’s” worst nightmare is true!

(image source: www.thehindu.com)

Disclaimer: This is an update to our previous post, “The Sahara Shri Saga – All You Need To Know!”.

The last we know Mr. Roy was in police custody in a forest guest house in Uttar Pradesh. As per the court’s order, he was brought to New Delhi to appear in front of the Supreme Court today. His journey to the court was not uneventful. Just as he was being escorted to the court premises by the police, a man in the crowd threw ink on him. Immediately, the man was detained. Claiming to be a lawyer from Gwalior, the man, Manoj Sharma called Mr. Roy, “gareebon ka chor” (thief of the poor). If news reports are to be believed, Mr. Sharma is not a novice in throwing stuff at people. He also threw a shoe at Mr. Suresh Kalmadi, the man famous for his alleged involvement in the Commonwealth Games scam. In fact, in order to prove the level of corruption in 2005-06 (when the BJP-led NDA was in power), the ink-thrower had got a fake death certificate of Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, the then Prime Minister of India.

Coming back to the case at hand, in the Supreme Court, Mr. Roy tendered an unconditional apology for failing to appear in the first instance and then promised to pay the entire due amount to the investors, though he wanted some more time. He also offered bank guarantees for the 22,500 crores of rupees and man-power help to SEBI to verify those investors who had already been paid. The Court accepted the apology but didn’t find the proposal to refund money ‘concrete’. It ordered Mr. Roy and two other directors of the Sahara Group to be sent to judicial custody till March 11, 2014, when the next hearing would take place.

 After the court’s order, Mr. Roy was taken to Tihar jail. For those who are wondering that the last time when he was sent to custody, he was in a forest guest house, then why Tihar jail this time, the difference is that last time he was sent to police custody to ensure his appearance in court today. Thus, it was up to the police to decide his place of custody. However, this time he has been sent to judicial custody in connection to the non-payment case.

The only saving grace for Mr. Roy in all this is that the court did not send the woman director Vandana Bhargava to judicial custody. Instead, she is allowed to be in touch with Mr. Roy to come up with a concrete proposal to refund the money. If it works out, then Mr. Roy could be out before March 11, 2014.