Observing that it was "difficult to digest" that Sahara paid the entire money in cash to millions of "duped" investors within a span of just two months, the Supreme Court on Friday asked Sahara Group to explain its source of money to the court.
The court noted that that Rs 24,000 crore "cannot fall from the heavens".
"What is the source of this money? Did you get the money from other companies? Withdrew it from bank accounts? Or sold property to get it? It should be any of the three alternatives... Money did not fall from the heavens," Chief Justice Thakur asked senior advocate Kapil Sibal who appeared for Sahara.
"Though we don't doubt your client's ability to distribute crores in two months to millions of investors, we find it difficult to digest," Justice Thakur observed.
Sahara chief Subrata Roy is out on parole after spending more than two years in Tihar Jail, unable to garner bail condition to deposit Rs 10,000 crore for allegedly duping the investors who had spent towards housing scheme.
The Bench asked Sahara to reveal the source from which it drew Rs 24,000 crore to "distribute" among its investors within two months time.
Sibal said the money was withdrawn from various schemes. "I have already filed an affidavit," he submitted.
Senior advocate Arvind P Dattar, appearing for market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), agreed with the court saying they cannot go and verify Sahara's investors, but wanted to know the source of its money.
He argued that the most which can be assumed against Sahara is that the money is unaccounted for.
"If it's black money, who is Sebi to investigate? It is a matter of income-tax," Sibal argued.
Meanwhile, the bench also asked Sebi to respond after properly examining the plea made by Sahara Group in its fresh application seeking permission to borrow money from a foreign entity for raising the amount for securing Roy's interim bail.
For the interim bail, the court had put conditions on Roy like depositing Rs 5,000 crore in cash and a bank guarantee of equal amount and tough terms, including payment of the entire Rs 36,000 crore, including interest, to be paid back to the investors.
The group's application had stated that Sahara needed to borrow money from Reuben brothers of United Kingdom for depositing it in the Sebi-Sahara account opened at the apex court's direction for refunding money to investors.
It had earlier informed the court that the loan on overseas hotels that was given by Bank of China has been taken over by billionaire brothers David and Simon Reuben of the UK, whose main activities were in real estate, private equity and venture capital.
Roy, on August 26, had offered in Supreme Court to pay an additional Rs 300 crore to Sebi but said the amount should be adjusted as bank guarantee.
Sahara had also informed the court that it was negotiating the sale of its three overseas hotels -- Grosvenor House Hotel in London, New York Plaza and Dream New York hotels.
On August 3, the court had extended Roy's parole till September 16 with a condition to deposit Rs 300 crore with Sebi.
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