Sahara chief files discharge petition before SEBI court
According to advocate Sarogi, the court will hear the matter on June 7, and decide the discharge application first.
Mumbai: Sahara chief Subrata Roy on Thursday filed an application for discharge before the special Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI) court in the city. At last hearing, the special court had cancelled the non-bailable warrant issued against Roy for not appearing before it. On Thursday, the Sahara chief could not attend the court once again due to health issues, and his lawyer filed an exemption application before the court.
Roy’s lawyer Ashok Sarogi said, “The matter was kept for arguments (on Thursday) before framing of charges but unfortunately, Roy was not well and therefore, we submitted an exemption application. We also submitted a discharge application on behalf of the company.”
“Our say is that once the company has been prosecuted by courts in Delhi for the same offence, there cannot be a second prosecution against the company and if the company cannot be prosecuted, the question of prosecuting its directors or shareholders does not arise,” he said.
According to advocate Sarogi, the court will hear the matter on June 7, and decide the discharge application first. The arguments on framing of charges will take place only if the discharge application is rejected.
Advocate Sarogi explained that Roy could not attend the court owing to some stomach problem. Though special SEBI court judge, Shayeda Razvi, said that she would like to examine the doctor whether the medical certificate is correct or not. To which advocate Sarogi replied, “We have said it is a genuine cause, therefore if the court so feels, it can examine the doctor, no difficulty.”
The prosecution’s case against Roy is that Sahara India Real Estate Corporation (SIREC), Sahara Housing Investment (SHI), their promoter Roy, and the three directors in 2012, allegedly collected a huge amount of money from investors without listing the securities on the stock exchange.
According to SEBI, the Sahara group issued ‘optional fully-convertible debentures’ for the public in 2009 under the garb of private placement. This violated the SEBI Act because companies have to list such securities on the stock exchange, which the group did not do.