SEBI quashes non-bailable warrant against Sahara chief

The special SEBI court presided over by judge S Razvi on Friday, quashed the non-bailable warrant (NBW) issued against Sahara chief Subrata Roy, after he appeared before the court. On March 31, the court had issued a warrant against the accused, which was honoured by him.

The next hearing of the case has been adjourned to May 18, when the prosecution will put forward the charges pressed against the accused.

Roy appeared before the court on Friday afternoon with a battery of senior lawyers. He filed an application requesting the court to allow him to abstain from appearing before the court for every hearing. It was, however, opposed by Dr Poornima Advani, Special Public Prosecutor, who claimed that Roy cannot be granted permanent abstention.

After hearing the arguments, the court rejected Roy's application, although he was granted leeway under special circumstances. In the case of genuine reasons, he was asked to file an application about the same, based on which the court would take a decision on the same.

Meanwhile, after the arguments, Advocate Advani informed the court that since the case is important, it requires a trial to be conducted on a regular basis.

The Apex court, earlier this week, had ordered the Sahara group to attach its prime property of Pune, Amby Valley, in order to force the group and the accused to deposit with SEBI the remaining amount of Rs 14,779 crore, which it owes to the investors. The Supreme Court had also directed the Sahara group to repay over Rs 25,000 crore to investors by depositing the amount with market regulator SEBI, which it had collected illegally, from three crore investors. Sahara has so far deposited over Rs 11,000 crore, of which Rs 6,000 crore was paid after the Apex court sent Roy and two of the group's directors to jail on March 4, 2014.

Securities and Exchange Board of India ( SEBI )