Calling him chor , a man from Gwalior today threw ink on the face of Sahara chief Subrata Roy when he was brought to the Supreme Court amidst chaotic scenes.

Calling himself an investor, the man in his 30s, Manoj Sharma, waited for Roy, who was wearing his trade mark waistcoat and tie, to get out of one of the cars of the police convoy that had brought him a little after noon from nearby Noida to the court premises and blackened his face.

Shouting Sahara chor hai (thief), Sharma threw a bottle of black ink on him. The man was beaten up by some lawyers who had gathered and he was removed by the police to Tilak Marg police station.

The attempt of security personnel to bring Roy inside the court premises through another gate did not bear fruit as waiting photojournalists rushed to the place where Roy got down from the police vehicle.

Sharma, who reportedly has a previous record of having thrown a shoe at Congress MP Suresh Kalmadi when he was being brought to a court, removed his shirt and shouted that “He is a thief. He has stolen people’s money and I am against thieves”.

The Uttar Pradesh security personnel, in whose custody he has been since Friday, got entry passes issued for themselves and the Sahara chief to ensure his presence before a bench of Justices K S Radhakrishnan and J S Khehar at 2 p.m.

To ensure a smooth entry for Roy inside the court building, the security personnel ordered the temporary closure of one of the two entry gates around 1 p.m.

The bench had earlier taken serious note of Roy’s absence before it and had issued a non-bailable warrant against him and production by 2 p.m. today.

The subsequent last-ditch effort to get the arrest warrant recall did not fructify as the bench had rejected the plea.

The order to arrest Roy was issued after his failure to appear before the apex court in the contempt case arising out of non-refund of Rs 20,000 crore to investors by two of his companies.

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