Tihar Turns Business Centre For Sahara Chief Subrata Roy's Asset Sale Talks

Starting August 5 and for the following 10 days, Delhi’s Tihar jail will have the sort of visitors who generally find themselves working in very different circumstances. They’ll be coming to see Sahara chief Subrata Roy, who’s trying to raise Rs 10,000 crore as a get-out-of-jail card by selling or mortgaging real estate assets.

So how is Tihar preparing for this unusual event? A large 30x18 ft conference room with an attached bathroom and a 12x12 ft annexe inside the Tihar court complex are being readied for Roy and two Sahara directors, Ashok Roy Choudhary and Ravi Shankar Dubey, who are also lodged in the same prison.

Jail authorities have sent a letter to Delhi Lieutenant-Governor Najeeb Jung to notify the conference room as a special jail but with certain relaxations — phones and laptops, WiFi connectivity and visitors from 6 am to 8 pm on all days except Sundays and gazetted holidays.

The Sahara Group will pay for the privileges. The room, which is used for confidential meetings and press briefings by the directorgeneral of prisons, has a 52-inch TV for making presentations, video-conferencing and a table that seats 25.

It also has wood-paneled walls and is fully air-conditioned.

Visitors coming to meet Roy to be frisked

All Visitors Coming to meet Roy to be Frisked Roy’s guests — corporate bigwigs, investors, top lawyers, merchant bankers, et al — will get vegetarian meals, snacks and tea prepared in the jail canteen, which is manned by a few longtime inmates. All visitors will be subject to frisking.

The Sahara chief has been in Tihar jail since March over the issue of refunds to investors in a financial instrument issued by two group companies in violation of norms. The Securities and Exchange Board of India says Sahara has to pay more than Rs 37,000 crore by way of the refund amount and interest.

While Sahara says it has already paid much of the money that is due, the Supreme Court has told Roy that he needs to raise Rs 5,000 crore in cash and Rs 5,000 crore by way of bank guarantees to get bail.

The Sahara boss and the two directors are currently housed in a section for inmates above 60. As with other parts of the jail, no cellphones and laptops are allowed and jammers restrict all forms of electronic communications.

That’s why Roy and his team need to be relocated. “We can’t switch off the jammers just for one person. It will send a wrong message to others. It could become a precedent of sorts if we allow him privileges inside the jail and other inmates might start asking for similar things then,” said a senior jail official, who did not want to be named.

The court order permits Roy and his team to conduct business meetings and negotiations in the designated area. The most valuable properties on the Sahara list are its three international hotels — Grosvenor House Hotel in London and The Plaza and Dream Downtown Hotel in New York.

ET reported last month that those looking to buy the properties include the Poonawalla family based in Pune, an investor group linked to the Qatar royal family and Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei.

The Poonawallas have made an offer of £550 million for the London property. One of the world’s largest luxury property investors Madison has offered $800 million for Sahara’s New York hotels.

The terms under which Sahara has been allowed to set up the deal room are listed in the affidavit filed by Rajesh Kumar, superintendent of Central Jail No 3 at Tihar.

“They will have to submit a list of visitors to the superintendent in advance. Confidentiality will be maintained,” said the jail official cited above.

In his affidavit, Kumar had also suggested a second option — a guest house at the new residential complex, which is a type V government accommodation with three double rooms, a single room and two toilets — but the conference facility was found more suitable to conduct business. The conference room is within the Tihar court complex, which usually convenes once a month to deal with petty offences.

“It already is a secure place. There is one common entry and exit point that will be monitored by CCTV cameras,” said another official aware of the planning.

Roy and the two directors will stay at the annexe attached to the conference room and will be free to conduct business through the night considering that they will be dealing predominantly with people in the US and Europe. However, secretarial staff will only be allowed at visiting hours.

Tihar jail is a 200-acre facility, the largest prison complex in South Asia, and has different wards for different types of inmates — firsttimers, hardcore criminals and those over 60. Roy and the two directors are housed in a single room in the over-60 block where there are regular medical check-ups and sevadars to take care of prisoners’ basic needs.

For health reasons, Roy sometimes asks for khichdi from the jail canteen for which he pays, said the first jail official cited above. He sticks to himself for the most part and is usually meditating on his own, the person said.