New Delhi: A number of people including the staff of Sahara chief Subrata Roy today visited him at the conference room of Tihar jail which has been declared “special jail” for negotiations with potential buyers of his overseas hotels to raise Roy's bail amount of Rs 10,000 crore.
Sources in Tihar jail told PTI that Roy with two of his Sahara directors, Ashok Roy Choudhary and Ravi Shankar Dubey who were lodged in the same prison, were today transferred to the conference room around 7 AM amid high security.
“A number of people today visited the Sahara chief but it is not clear whether Roy had prospective buyers or sale negotiators visiting him,” sources said.
Roy's steno, secretarial assistants and one technical assistant were also allowed to help him during the allowed time slot that is 6 AM to 8 PM on all working days.
The meetings held at the conference room will be under the surveillance of CCTV cameras.
As per the relaxation given by the Supreme court, Roy will stay in the conference room that has been declared “special jail” for the next ten days to negotiate sale of his hotels abroad to be able to raise Rs 10,000 crore bail amount. 65-year-old Roy will be using the fully air-conditioned room with services like wi-fi and video-conferencing. He has also been allowed two laptops, two desktops, landline phones and one mobile phone.
“Adequate security arrangements have been made. The meetings will be under surveillance of CCTV cameras. All visitors coming to meet Roy are being thoroughly frisked. He was moved with his two directors to the conference room early morning today for the next ten days.
“He will be given jail food. The canteen food has also been allowed for him and his visitors. All the rules of jail will apply for his stay in the conference room as it did earlier,” an official said.
Roy has been lodged in Tihar Jail since March 4 this year. He was arrested over his group's failure to pay back thousands of investors who were sold bonds of over Rs 20,000 crore. The court had asked Sahara to deposit Rs 10,000 crore initially to secure the release of Roy on bail.
Sahara, the largest private sector employer in the country, had said it does not have the money it has been ordered to pay to secure bail for its chief and requested the court to allow the negotiations to sell their properties to generate the amount from within the jail. Initially, Roy was allowed to meet visitors only twice a week and were allowed phone calls from the Jail's telephone booth. His son and company's senior officers were among his regular visitors.
