SC cancels Sahara chief Subrata Roy's parole

New Delhi: The Supreme Court, which had earlier on Friday refused to extend Sahara Group chief Subrata Roy's parole and ordered that he should be taken into custody till October 3, has in a reprieve stayed his arrest till September 30 and decided to hear his appeal seeking an extension of interim parole on September 28. A two-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Tirath Singh Thakur passed the order after hearing an application filed by Kapil Sibal, the lawyer appearing for Roy. Sibal sought a reprieve for Roy on the ground that he would follow all rules and regulations. Earlier today, Sibal tendered an unconditional apology to the apex court and urged it to cancel its order on Roy's parole delivered in the morning, following which the court agreed to hear the matter. While hearing an application filed by the Securities and Exchange Board of India's (SEBI) to appoint a receiver for attaching the properties of the paroled Sahara chief, the apex court bench comprising Chief Justice T.S Thakur and justices D.Y. Chandrachur and A.M. Khandulkar angrily said, "The interim arrangement of Subrata Sahara has been cancelled." One of the lawyers appearing for the market regulator told the apex court that the properties given by the Sahara Group chief have already been attached by the income tax department. He added that as properties are attached, the SEBI cannot sell them. The apex court had on September 16 extended Roy's parole till September 23. Roy had been out on parole since May after serving a two-year term in Delhi's Tihar Jail to hold the last rites of his mother, who passed away after a prolonged illness. In one of the last hearings, their bail was extended till September 16 on the condition that the Sahara Group deposit Rs. 300 crores with the apex court. The apex court had asked Sahara India to reveal the source of the Rs. 18,000 crore it had claimed to have paid back to the investors.