Sahara pays Tihar Rs 31 lakh for using facilities

Sahara group has paid Rs 31 lakh (Rs 3.1 million) to Tihar jail authorities as charges for stay of its chief Subrata Roy in an air-conditioned facility and using services like phone, internet and video conferencing for 57 days to negotiate sale of his luxury hotels abroad.

Roy was allowed by the Supreme Court to use the jail's conference room to negotiate sale of his hotels in order to collect Rs 10,000 crore (Rs 100 billion) for his bail.

"The payment was made by the Sahara group a few days before the withdrawal of special services.

“An amount of Rs 31 lakh (Rs 3.1 million) has been submitted to us that includes the expenses of security, electricity charges, food etc," a senior jail official told PTI.

Roy, 65, stayed in the special facility for a total period of 57 days with his two directors Ashok Roy Choudhary and Ravi Shankar Dubey from August 5 to September 30.

In a letter to Tihar authorities recently, Roy had demanded restoration of the facilities saying that almost 80 per cent of the deal was fixed and that withdrawal of services may lead to its cancellation.

He had also demanded enhanced security claiming threat to his life.

Roy, who was sent to jail on March 4 this year for non-refund of over Rs 20,000 crore (Rs 200 billion) with interest to depositors, was asked by the court to pay Rs 10,000 crore (Rs 100 billion) to get bail, including Rs 5,000 crore (Rs 50 billion) in cash and rest of the amount in bank guarantee.

Image: Sahara Chief Subrata Roy being taken to Tihar. Photograph: Reuters