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Pay Rs 10,000 cr to get bail, SC tells Subrata
R Sedhuraman
Legal Correspondent

New Delhi, March 26
The Supreme Court today granted bail to Sahara chief Subrata Roy subject to payment of Rs 10,000 crore, but the group said it was “impossible” to mobilise such a huge amount when Roy was in jail and the group’s properties remained attached and bank accounts frozen.

As senior advocate Ram Jethmalani, appearing for Roy, sought dilution of the bail condition, a Bench comprising Justices KS Radhakrishnan and JS Khehar asked the group to file an application seeking de-freezing of bank accounts.

The Bench passed the bail order after considering Sahara’s revised plan for refunding Rs 20,000 crore in instalments within a year-Rs 2,500 crore in three days, Rs 3,500 crore every three months (by the end of June, September and December) and Rs 7,000 crore by March 31 next year. The Bench agreed to hear the case tomorrow as Jethmalani sought time to respond to the bail offer and seek de-freezing of bank accounts.

The Bench sent Roy and two Sahara directors, Ravi Shankar Dubey and Ashok Roy Choudhary, to Tihar Jail on March 4, 2014, for their failure to refund Rs 25,780 crore.