Sebi Sahara: Subrata Roy’s unqualified apology accepted but Roy, other Sahara Directors to be in judicial custody till March 11 [Download Order]

The Supreme Court witnessed unprecedented drama today afternoon as Sahara chief Subrata Roy was produced in the Court in accordance with the apex court’s directions on February 26..A large contingent of media and lawyers were waiting for Roy at Gate E of the Supreme Court even as Roy entered through another gate. The media may have missed him but Gwalior based lawyer Manoj Sharma, did manage to throw ink on Roy’s face as Roy made his way to courtoom No. 7..Subsequently, courtroom 7 witnessed shoddy crowd management as lawyers, interns and media personnel thronged the corridors with security officers refusing to let anyone in the courtoom. Amidst all this chaos, Senior Advocates Ram Jethmalani, Aryama Sundaram and Roy made their way into the courtroom..In the court, Roy apologised to the Court for not appearing in court last week..Roy while apologizing to the Court said, “SEBI has not been able to prove [the existence of] fictitious accounts. We are willing to give bank guarantee. The Court needs to be sympathetic towards Sahara as well. I will honour Supreme Court orders”..Senior Advocate Ram Jethmalani appearing for Sahara subsequently undertook to refund the remaining amount within 2 months. Senior Advocates Aryama Sundaram, Rajeev Dhawan, S. Ganesh, Rakesh Dwivedi and Ravi Shankar Prasad appeared along with Jethmalani for Sahara..The Supreme Court accepted Roy’s apology for non-appearance in court on February 26 but pulled up Roy for not respecting the court orders..The Court said it was not happy with the proposal given by the group for refunding investors’ money. The Supreme Court said, “Payments by Sahara as claimed cannot be made in cash. Payment in cash in a court case is contrary to law.”.The Supreme Court also said that the sale of properties is Sahara’s responsibility. “How Sahara gets money to repay investors is company’s business. The intention is to obey all orders”, said the two-judge bench..The Court in its order said,.“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.”.In its 5 page order, the Court has clearly expressed its doubts about the existence of the investors observing that,.“Documents and affidavits produced by the contemnors themselves would apparently falsify their refund theory and cast serious doubts about the existence of the so-called investors. All the fact finding authorities have opined that majority of investors do not exist. Preservation of market integrity is extremely important for economic growth of this country and for national interest. Maintaining investors’ confidence requires market integrity and control of market abuse. Market abuse is a serious financial crime which undermines the very financial structure of this country and will make imbalance in wealth between haves and have nots.”.“We are implementing our order,” said Supreme Court directing Roy and two others Directors with the exception of Vandana Bhargav to remain in judicial custody in Tihar jail till the next hearing which has been fixed for March 11. However, the Court has granted liberty to the contemnors to mention the matter for the preponement of the hearing date if a concrete and acceptable proposal [for refund] can be offered..Full text of the order below: