Can’t leave India without showing cash sources, SC tells Sahara’s Roy

The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to permit Sahara Group chief Subrata Roy to go abroad till his company furnishes details of how it plans to refund Rs22,885 crore to its investors as ordered by the court earlier.

A bench of Justices K S Radhakrishnan and J S Khehar did not hesitate to dismiss Roy's plea to be allowed to go abroad for business purposes until the next hearing date. Instead it said that if the company failed to show the source of the money then it would direct further investigation into the group.

The Sahara Group is under fire from various authorities topped by the Supreme Court for allegedly luring small investors with promises of high returns, and has been ordered to refund this money.

The court had in November last year barred Roy from leaving the country, and also restrained him from selling any of its properties. About a year earlier on 31 August 2012, the apex court had directed the Sahara Group to refund the investors' money by November end.

The court Tuesday directed the group to furnish the Securities & Exchange Board of India with all documents relating to the receipt of monies that were purportedly used in refunding investors.

Market regulator SEBI bears the onus of ensuring that Sahara complies with the SC's orders. The bench ordered the group to adduce bank statements and other records relating to money received by Sahara from various other entities so as to how and when such monies were transferred.

The court also called for documents to show how was this money used in redeeming investors.

''You explain the source of money and how were refunds made. If you can show this satisfactorily, that is the end of the matter,'' remarked the bench while fixing 11 February for the next hearing.