The Supreme Court will hear market regulator SEBI’s plea for detention of Sahara Group Chief, Subrata Roy, and two of its directors on April 22.

The bench agreed to hear the pleas on April 22 after the regulator on Thursday sought an early hearing of case before a bench of Justice K.S. Radhakrishnan and Justice Dipak Misra.

SEBI had appealed to the apex court on March 15 to pass an order to take measures for the arrest and detention of the promoter of Sahara group — Subrata Roy Sahara, and two directors – Ashok Roy Choudhary and Ravi Shankar Dubey. Apex Court on August 31, 2012, directed to two Sahara Group companies — Sahara India Real Estate Corporation (SIRECL) and Sahara Housing Investment Corporation (SHICL) — to refund Rs 24,000 crore to their investors within three months with 15 per cent interest a year for raising the amount from its investors in violation of rules and regulations.

“Shockingly, although the two companies assured this Court that only Rs 351 crores are payable in the year ending March 31, 2013, and all the bonds, except one category, are not redeemable, it is now claimed that except Rs 2,620 crores, all other amounts have been refunded. In view of the open, continued and consistent defiance of the orders of this Court and the orders of SEBI, it is necessary that drastic measures are taken to protect the interest of three crore investors,” the regulator had mentioned in its application.

> shishir.sinha@thehindu.co.in

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