Sahara founder Subrata Roy surrendered to the Lucknow police on Friday morning, a day after evading a 12-member team that visited his home to execute a non-bailable warrant issued by the Supreme Court in connection with his group's failure to return Rs. 20,000 crores to investors.
Roy's lawyer, Ram Jethmalani, told the Supreme Court on Friday that his client was in the custody of the Lucknow police, PTI reported.
Readers across India woke up on Friday to find full-page advertisements from Sahara explaining why their founder had failed to surrender to the authorities. The notice, which appeared in such major publications as 'The Times of India', 'The Economic Times' and 'DNA', claimed that Roy was attending to his sick mother.
"If someone is insistent to take me away from my mother before she attains at least some recovery, what should a son do?" the advertisement asked. "My earnest request to the administration is to help me on humanitarian grounds, as it involves the deep-rooted emotions of a son towards his beloved mother."
The Supreme Court had ordered Roy's arrest after he failed to appear for a hearing on Wednesday. Roy's lawyer had on Tuesday asked the court to exempt him from attending court because his mother was sick, and produced a medical certificate that reiterated this. But the judges turned down the request.
The Sahara ad on Friday attempted to explain why the medical letter, issued by doctors from the company's own Sahara Hospital, should have been considered credible. "It is most natural that when Sahara has a 500 Bed Super Specialty, Tertiary Care hospital with hundreds of top doctors, the family will be treated by them only," the ad said, using somewhat eccentric grammar and capitalisation. It said that Roy's mother carries a pacemaker implanted for a "complete heart blockade".
The ad, which was issued in the name of "We 12 Lac Workers, Sahara Pariwar India", ended with a plea to the President of India, Supreme Court, "Respected Citizens of our beloved country and Respected Indian Media" to "kindly advise us, kindly help us....."
The case for which Roy failed to appear involves an accusation that two group companies, Sahara India Real Estate Corporation and Sahara Housing Investment Corporation Limited had duped more than five crore investors of Rs. 20,000 crores.
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Roy's lawyer, Ram Jethmalani, told the Supreme Court on Friday that his client was in the custody of the Lucknow police, PTI reported.
Readers across India woke up on Friday to find full-page advertisements from Sahara explaining why their founder had failed to surrender to the authorities. The notice, which appeared in such major publications as 'The Times of India', 'The Economic Times' and 'DNA', claimed that Roy was attending to his sick mother.
"If someone is insistent to take me away from my mother before she attains at least some recovery, what should a son do?" the advertisement asked. "My earnest request to the administration is to help me on humanitarian grounds, as it involves the deep-rooted emotions of a son towards his beloved mother."
The Supreme Court had ordered Roy's arrest after he failed to appear for a hearing on Wednesday. Roy's lawyer had on Tuesday asked the court to exempt him from attending court because his mother was sick, and produced a medical certificate that reiterated this. But the judges turned down the request.
The Sahara ad on Friday attempted to explain why the medical letter, issued by doctors from the company's own Sahara Hospital, should have been considered credible. "It is most natural that when Sahara has a 500 Bed Super Specialty, Tertiary Care hospital with hundreds of top doctors, the family will be treated by them only," the ad said, using somewhat eccentric grammar and capitalisation. It said that Roy's mother carries a pacemaker implanted for a "complete heart blockade".
The ad, which was issued in the name of "We 12 Lac Workers, Sahara Pariwar India", ended with a plea to the President of India, Supreme Court, "Respected Citizens of our beloved country and Respected Indian Media" to "kindly advise us, kindly help us....."
The case for which Roy failed to appear involves an accusation that two group companies, Sahara India Real Estate Corporation and Sahara Housing Investment Corporation Limited had duped more than five crore investors of Rs. 20,000 crores.
