SC says no to house arrest for Sahara chief

Firm says no international buyer will want to visit him in prison.

The Supreme Court Wednesday rejected a plea to release Sahara chief Subrata Roy from jail and place him under house arrest, even as the group pleaded that no international buyer would want to visit a prison for negotiations.

Sahara counsel requested for Roy’s release, contending the group was now looking for international buyers to dispose its properties to raise the money for refund of investors but asked “which international buyer would want to visit a place like Tihar jail to negotiate a deal with him?”

They said “let him be arrested in a more convenient place” where he could meet people and strike deals. The counsel added that the condition of Tihar jail was pathetic because of overcrowding and a prospective buyer would never want to visit such a place.

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However, a Bench of Justices K S Radhakrishnan and J S Khehar, intriguingly, said that Roy was not under arrest. “We have not arrested him. Arrest means detention. Read out our March 4 order, we have said he will be in judicial custody. An arrest would mean civil imprisonment and punishment. He is only in the custody of the court in Tihar jail.”

At this, the counsel requested for putting Roy in the custody of the court at a different place and not Tihar jail. But the Bench responded: “We are not inclined to use our discretion at this stage.”

Another request by the counsel to permit home-cooked food and more phone calls for Roy was also not entertained by the Bench. Roy and two other directors — Ravi Shankar Dubey and Ashok Roy Choudhary are given the food cooked in the jail like other prisoners and are allowed a maximum of three phone calls a day.

The Bench has posted the matter for April 16 when it will also hear the Sahara counsel on whether the court had jurisdiction to put Roy in Tihar.

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As the hearing began on Wednesday, Sahara counsel had sought Roy’s release, saying it was almost impossible for the group to collect adequate money and come up with a “more favourable proposal” till Roy was inside the jail.

“The intention behind putting him behind the bars was to raise money but it is not possible to do so if he is inside. Please modify your order and let him be in house arrest or office arrest. This court can add any other condition like asking him to report to some authority everyday,” said the counsel.

The court, however, remained unimpressed with the idea of modifying its March 4 order when the court had ordered custody in jail for Roy and others after slamming the group’s “dilatory tactics” and trashing their theory of having already refunded the investors.

Since then, the group has come up with two proposals to secure their release while the court said they must deposit Rs 10,000 crore to get them freed. The group had expressed its inability to pay this amount.