The case of Sahara versus the Securities and Exchange Board of India has a long way to go, with Sahara chief Subrata Roy seeking more time from the Supreme Court on Tuesday to pay off the Rs 22,500 crore that he owes his investors.
But this is not the only case Sahara is fighting in court. In January, the company filed a Rs 200 crore defamation suit against journalist Tamal Bandyopadhyay for writing a book titled Sahara: The Untold Story, a book that chronicles the rise of the mammoth business conglomerate and that possibly contains information about Sahara’s run-in with Sebi.
Bandyopadhyay is a deputy managing editor at the financial newspaper 'Mint'. His book, published by Jaico, was to scheduled to be on the shelves in January. But in December, Sahara took the author, publisher and the printer to court on the grounds that it contained libelous statements that could malign the image of the company. On December 10, the Calcutta High Court ordered a stay on the publication of the book. The injunction remains in force.
While Bandyopadhyay and his publishers declined to speak to Scroll.in about the book because the matter is sub-judice, excerpts published in the media before the injunction indicate that the book explores the Sahara-Sebi case in detail.
The controversy began in 2011, when Sebi claimed that two Sahara group companies had raised nearly Rs 18,000 crore from 30 million investors in Optionally Fully Convertible Debentures by violating a number of capital raising norms. Sebi ordered Sahara to pay back its investors with interest, which Sahara has not yet fully done, even after missing a series of deadlines to submit crucial information about its investors to the Supreme Court.
Bandyopadhyay’s book contains, among other things, glimpses of a meeting Roy had with Sebi chief CB Bhave and the randomly selected verification of investors that led the board to realise that Sahara had not, as the company had claimed, placed its OFCDs privately with its group associates.
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But this is not the only case Sahara is fighting in court. In January, the company filed a Rs 200 crore defamation suit against journalist Tamal Bandyopadhyay for writing a book titled Sahara: The Untold Story, a book that chronicles the rise of the mammoth business conglomerate and that possibly contains information about Sahara’s run-in with Sebi.
Bandyopadhyay is a deputy managing editor at the financial newspaper 'Mint'. His book, published by Jaico, was to scheduled to be on the shelves in January. But in December, Sahara took the author, publisher and the printer to court on the grounds that it contained libelous statements that could malign the image of the company. On December 10, the Calcutta High Court ordered a stay on the publication of the book. The injunction remains in force.
While Bandyopadhyay and his publishers declined to speak to Scroll.in about the book because the matter is sub-judice, excerpts published in the media before the injunction indicate that the book explores the Sahara-Sebi case in detail.
The controversy began in 2011, when Sebi claimed that two Sahara group companies had raised nearly Rs 18,000 crore from 30 million investors in Optionally Fully Convertible Debentures by violating a number of capital raising norms. Sebi ordered Sahara to pay back its investors with interest, which Sahara has not yet fully done, even after missing a series of deadlines to submit crucial information about its investors to the Supreme Court.
Bandyopadhyay’s book contains, among other things, glimpses of a meeting Roy had with Sebi chief CB Bhave and the randomly selected verification of investors that led the board to realise that Sahara had not, as the company had claimed, placed its OFCDs privately with its group associates.
