Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has requested the Supreme Court to stop Sahara group chief Subrata Roy from travelling abroad “after giving reasonable opportunity of hearingâ€.
The market regulator, in a petition, requested the court to direct Roy and three directors in his companies to deposit their passports with the court.
Sebi’s petition may come up for hearing in a week or so, said Arvind K. Datar, counsel for the regulator. He said Sebi’s move was prompted by lack of cooperation on the part of Sahara and the group continuing to default on its obligations as instructed by the Supreme Court.
The petition requests the court to “pass an order directing the promoter of SIRECL and SHICL – Shri Subrata Roy Sahara and their Directors, viz., Shri Ashok Roy Choudhary, Shri Ravi Shankar Dubey and Ms. Vandana Bhargava to deposit forthwith their respective passport with the Secretary General of this Hon’ble Court and not to leave the country without the prior permission of this Hon’ble Court.”
EBI on Wednesday ordered the freezing of bank accounts and attachment of properties of two Sahara group firms and top executives, Roy, for failing to refund more than Rs. 24,000 crore to investors.
The Supreme Court on August 31, 2012 had asked Sahara group firms to refund the money with 15% interest and had asked Sebi to facilitate the refund.
However, the group in December, 2012 was allowed to pay the money in three instalments, including an immediate payment of Rs. 5,120 crore, followed by an installment of Rs. 10,000 crore in the first week of January and remainder by the first week of February 2013.
Earlier, on 1 March, the Sahara Group said in a press release that it had come to know that Sebi was planning to “orchestrate†income tax raids against the group.