Sahara turns to employees for Rs10,000-cr needed to bail out Subrata Roy

Sahara Group today sought the help of its employees to raise the Rs10,000-crore needed to be deposited with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) for securing the release group chief Subrata Roy's bail.

In a letter sent to its employees, Sahara Group is reported to have requested a minimum contribution of Rs1,00,000 from each employee towards the bail amount of Rs10,000 crore.

The employees will be given shares in the Sahara e-Multipurpose Society Ltd for their share of the bail amount, CNN-IBN reports.

Sahara expects to raise about Rs5,000 crore from such employee contributions.

Sahara chief Subrata Roy's lawyer on Thursday told the Supreme court that the company could not deposit the Rs10,000 crore – Rs5,000 crore in cash and Rs5,000 crore in bank guarantees - as surety for bail.

The Supreme Court, which had earlier insisted that Sahara deposit the Rs20,000 crore due to investors with market regulator SEBI before Roy is released from jail, has now relaxed its stance and agreed to bail out Roy as soon as he paid Rs10,000 crore, half in cash to be deposited in court and the rest in bank guarantee with market regulator SEBI.

If Sahara fails to pay up, Subrata Roy will have to stay in jail till the next hearing which is on 3 April.

Sahara had earlier offered to pay up Rs20,000 crore in instalments over a period of one year, which the apex court refused.

A bench of Justices K S Radhakrishnan and J S Khehar rejected the proposal, which offered upfront payment of Rs2,500 crore and the rest in instalments till 31 March 2015, but said, "We are inclined to grant interim bail to contemnors who are detained by virtue of our March 4 order."

Sahara, however, did not agree to conditional bail and the company's counsel C A Sundaram requested the bench to consider bringing down the cash component of upfront payment to Rs2,500 crore, but the bench refused to relent.

Roy, in his petition has termed his detention as "purely illegal, contrary to the procedure prescribed by law and against the principles of natural justice".