Patna HC issues arrest warrant against Sahara chief Subrata Roy

Sahara India Chairman Subrata Roy's non-appearance in Patna High Court today has been seen as a contempt of court and the High Court has issued arrest warrant against him.

Patna(Bihar): Patna High Court on Friday issued an arrest warrant against Sahara Group chairman Subrata Roy for not appearing in court despite several summons, the court has directed the next hearing on May 16. On Wednesday, the Patna High Court directed Sahara India chief Subrata Roy to physically appear before the court on May 11.

Despite the High Court order, Subrata Roy did not appear in the court on Friday, after which the bench hearing the case issued an arrest warrant against him. According to the order of the court, the arrest warrant will be sent to the Director Generals / Chiefs of Police (DGP / CP) of three states. Along with Bihar, an arrest warrant will be sent to the police chiefs of Uttar Pradesh and Delhi. On May 13, a court was held to hear the case related to Subrata Roy.

Justice Sandeep Kumar, while hearing the cases related to investment in Sahara India, said that there were no further excuses for Subrata Roy, who should appear before the court on a designated date otherwise the court will take a strong decision against him.

The high court had asked the lawyer for Sahara India, Umesh Prasad Singh, to submit a full report about how Sahara India will return the money of investors of Bihar. Despite this, Roy still did not appear in the Sahara court. Earlier, Roy was directed by the court to physically appear in its hearing.

During the hearing on Thursday, the High Court took the absence of Subrata Roy seriously and gave a stern warning. According to investors advocate, Pratyush Kumar, Justice Sandeep Kumar said that "Subrata Roy is not above the High Court's order and he has committed a huge mistake by not appearing to court on Friday."

During the hearing on April 27, the Patna High Court had directed Subrata Roy to physically appear before the court on May 11. As Roy did not appear, Justice Kumar gave him another chance to appear before the court on May 12. As he again did not appear before the court on Thursday, Kumar gave a final order to Subroto Roy to appear before the court at 10.30 am on Friday.

At present, more than 2,000 cases pertaining to alleged fraudulent acts of Sahara India have been filed in the Patna High Court. While the actual numbers of duped persons are in lakhs, many of them have already died. Recently, Madhya Pradesh Police reached Lucknow with a non-bailable warrant to arrest Subrata Roy but failed as he was not present there. At present, police and intelligence agencies do not know his exact location.