Facing a hard cell to get out jail

INDIA’s Supreme Court has granted a jailed business tycoon an office, a phone, internet connection and three secretaries in a Delhi prison.

Subrata Roy, head of the Sahara conglomerate, was jailed on March 4 for failing to appear in court in a legal tussle with India’s capital market’s watchdog.

He has been allowed the facilities so he can sell two of his company’s iconic hotels to help raise 100-billion rupees (about R17.5-billion) to raise his bail.

The court gave him 10 working days from Monday to accomplish the sale of the Grosvenor House Hotel in London and the Plaza Hotel in New York.

To allow him to ne- gotiate with potential bidders, Roy will get a conference room in the jail complex, a cellphone, laptop and desktop computers, internet access and video conferencing facilities — as long as he pays for them.

The court ruled that three of his company’s secretaries would be allowed to join him to assist with the sale.

“This is a distress situation. It is a battle of nerves. And we need all the facilities and gadgets to negotiate the deal,” Harish Salve, one of India’s top lawyers who represented Sahara in the case, told the court on Friday.

If Roy raises the funds and deposits them with the regulator, the court will convene again to decide on any further terms for his release.

Roy was jailed after he failed to appear at a contempt hearing in the long-running dispute over the company’s failure to repay billions to investors who were sold

This is a distress situation. It is a battle of nerves

outlawed bonds. He has not yet been charged in the bonds dispute, and denies wrongdoing.

Sahara said it had repaid most investors, but its claims have been contested by the regulator and the court.

Despite his many pleas, Roy has been denied bail unless he deposits the money with the regulator.

The court estimates Sahara’s total liability to be between 330-billion and 350-billion rupees.

The sale of Roy’s prized hotels overseas are seen as critical to raise the deposit. Sahara paid $791-million for Grosvenor House and about $570-million for the Plaza in 2012.

Media reports have named Indian billionaire Cyrus Poonawalla and American-based Madison Capital Holdings as potential buyers.

Roy is often described in the media as a billionaire, although last year he said his personal assets were worth less than $1-billion. —