New Delhi, March 4
The Supreme Court today sent Sahara chief Subrata Roy and two directors of the group to judicial custody till March 11 for non-compliance of its orders for returning about Rs 20,000 crore to the investors through market regulator SEBI.

A Bench comprising Justices KS Radhakrishnan and Jagdish Singh Khehar, however, spared a woman director Vandana Bhargava from the ignominy of going to jail. The court asked her to be in touch with Roy and the two others in detention — Ravi Shankar Dubey and Ashok Roy Choudhary — to finalise an acceptable proposal.

Slating the next hearing for March 11, the Bench clarified that it was willing to advance the hearing if the group came up with a concrete proposal before that date, seeking the release of Roy and the directors.

Immediately after the apex court order, the police took Roy and the two directors to Tihar Jail.

“Non-compliance of the orders passed by this court shakes the very foundation of our judicial system and undermines the rule of law, which we are bound to honour and protect. This is essential to maintain faith and confidence of the people of this country in the judiciary,” the Bench said in a five-page order passed after more than four hours of arguments till about 1800 hrs, much beyond the normal closing time of 1600 hrs. Arrested by the Uttar Pradesh police in Lucknow on February 28 in the light of a non-bailable arrest warrant (NBW) issued by the SC on February 26 for his non-appearance in the court as directed, Roy was brought to Court No. 7, where the hearing was held, amid tight security. As soon as Roy stepped out of the police car outside the gate, a person indentified as Manoj Sharma, calling himself an investor and shouting “Sahara chor hai”, threw a bottle of black ink on Roy’s face. The police immediately arrested him but not before he was thrashed by some lawyers.

The Bench passed the order after hearing arguments on SEBI’s contempt petition against Roy and the three directors for not implementing the court orders.

Refusing to accept Roy’s contention that the investments had been returned to the investors in cash, the Bench said the documents and affidavits produced by the contemners falsified the refund theory and cast serious doubts about the existence of the so-called investors. All fact- finding authorities have opined that a majority of investors do not exist?

Also, it was illegal to make payments in cash, instead of through banking instruments such as draft and cheque, the Bench remarked.

The Bench also did not pay heed to a plea for granting more time to the group in the interest of its 12 lakh employees and crores of investors.

Two Sahara companies, Sahara India Real Estate Corp Ltd and Sahara India Housing Investment Corp Ltd, had raised about Rs 25,780 crore from over three crore investors since 2008 which was declared as illegal by Securities Appellate Tribunal and upheld by the SC. In its judgment on August 31, 2012, the apex court had directed Sahara to return the funds with 15 per cent interest and reiterated this in subsequent orders on December 5, 2012 and February 25, 2013.

Sufficient opportunities have been given to the contemners to comply with those orders and purge the contempt committed by them but they have adopted various dilatory tactics to delay the implementation of the orders, the Bench noted in its order.

“We have found that the contemnors have maintained an unreasonable stand throughout the proceedings before SEBI, SAT, (the Allahabad) High Court and even before this court,” the Bench said.