The Supreme Court today declined to hear the plea of Sahara chief Subrata Roy for recall of the non-bailable warrant (NBW) issued by it against him in a contempt case even as his lawyers made last-ditch efforts to get him relief.
After a fervant plea by senior advocate Ram Jethmalani did not fructify this morning, another senior counsel Ravi Shankar Prasad tried make another effort on behalf of 65-year- old Roy before a bench headed by Justice K S Radhakrishnan ahead of the lunch recess.
No attention was given to Prasad's plea by the bench which, in the morning, was informed by Jethmalani about Roy's arrest.
Appearing for Roy, Jethmalani and Prasad pleaded before the bench for recall of the NBW issued by the court on February 26. The Sahara chief was directed by the court to be arrested and produced before it on March 4.
They submitted that the special bench, comprising Justices Radhakrishnan and J S Khehar, which had heard the case, be assembled today to hear his application.
Roy was arrested in Lucknow today after he surrendered to the police, two days after a non-bailable warrant was issued against him.
The Sahara chief had yesterday approached the apex court tendering an "unconditional apology" for his non-appearance in a contempt case and sought recall of the NBW.
Before lunch, senior lawyer Ravishankar Prasad made another attempt get Roy out of police custody just before the lunch break.
However, without the bench rose for the recess without heeding to his plea.
Roy had sought exemption from personal appearance on the ground of ill-health of his 92-year-old mother.
The Sahara chief had yesterday approached the apex court tendering an "unconditional apology" for his non-appearance in a contempt case and sought recall of the NBW.
Moving the court a day after it issued the NBW to be executed by March 4, Roy admitted that he had "erred" by his non-appearance under a bonafide belief that the court will permit him personal exemption from appearance for one day.
Besides seeking recall of the NBW, Roy had sought a stay of the operation of its order during pendency of his plea.
The order to arrest Roy was issued after his failure to appear before the apex court in the contempt case arising out of non-refund of Rs 20,000 crore to investors by two of his companies.
However, the three directors of Sahara Group, who were also summoned along with Roy, had appeared in the court.
The court had on February 20 come down heavily on the Sahara group for not refunding the investors' money despite its order and summoned Roy, Ravi Shankar Dubey, Ashok Roy Choudhary and Vandana Bhargava, directors of its firms Sahara India Real Estate Corp Ltd (SIREC) and Sahara India Housing Investment Corp Ltd (SHIC) to be personally present before it.
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