The Supreme Court on May 26 ordered resumption of the probe against Sahara group companies by the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) and revived the lookout circulars against its directors including Subrata Roy, in a case related to non-payment of investment proceeds to investors. A division bench of the apex court set aside interim orders of the Delhi high court, which had stayed the order dated October 31, 2018 of the ministry of company affairs, asking the SFIO to probe into the investors’ complaints, as recommended by the Registrar of Companies, against three Sahara companies — Q Shop Unique Products Range Ltd., Q Gold Mart Ltd., and Housing Investment Corporation.
Although the SC bench set aside the high court’s interim orders, it said that this decision would not have any reflection on the merits of the petitions filed by Sahara group companies before the HC. The apex court also asked the HC to decide the matter preferably within two months of resumption of normal work after the summer recess.
In its appeal, the SFIO said, “During the investigations, it was found that three companies, which were originally under investigation, collected huge funds, that is more than Rs. 50,000 crore from the public in the guise of different schemes promising higher returns. However, the investors were not repaid their maturity amounts and were then forced to convert their deposits into schemes of other companies/entities of the group.” The SFIO, represented in the SC by solicitor general Tushar Mehta, found that six other companies — Aamby Valley Ltd., Qing Aamby City Developers Corporation, Sahara India Commercial Corporation, Sahara Prime City Ltd., Sahara India Financial Corporation, and Sahara India Real Estate Corporation — were intertwined with the three Sahara companies which were under the initial probe.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the Sahara group, said that of the Rs. 24,000 crore ordered by the SC in 2012 to be deposited, Rs. 20,000 crore had already been deposited with the SEBI.