Sahara chief goes missing as UP cops turn up at doorstep

Had Said He Wanted To Be By Mom’s Side
Lucknow: A 12-member Lucknow police team on Thursday spent over two hours in Sahara Shaher to arrest business magnate Subrata Roy, only to emerge out of his palatial bungalow to tell the media that he could not be found.

The Supreme Court had on Wednesday ordered a non-bailable warrant against the Sahara group boss in a case involving the refund of over Rs 20,000 crore to investors after he failed to appear before it, citing his mother’s ill health.

The police also visited the medical facility in Roy’s house where his 92-year-old ailing mother, Chhabi Roy, is undergoing treatment for various ailments, but failed to find
him there too.

Will arrest Sahara chief the moment he is traced: Police
Lucknow: A police officer who was part of the team that went searching for Subrata Roy on Thursday told news agencies that though the Sahara boss had told the Supreme Court through his lawyers that he wanted to be by his mother’s bedside holding her hand, he was nowhere to be found in the hospital that she is undergoing treatment.

The police then informed his brother J B Roy, who was present there, about the purpose of their visit and left. The entire search operation was videographed by the team. SSP Praveen Kumar confirmed the police team could not find Roy at Sahara Shaher in Vipul Khand, Gomtinagar, his residential address mentioned in the NBW.

“But we are on the lookout,” Kumar said, adding police teams were keeping a close watch on two other locations for Roy, but refused to elaborate. The officer further said there were certain conditions in which the police usually arrest a person against whom an NBW has been issued. “But (in Roy’s case) we won’t take any chances at all and arrest him the moment he is traced,” SSP Kumar said.

The search operation generated a great deal of curiosity with media crew and outdoor broadcast vans converging outside the towering gates of the palatial 225-acre premises at 3.45pm.

A posse of private guards allowed only cops to enter Sahara Shaher, with the media being kept out. Two hours later, the police team walked out with the officers looking to evade the media, in vain. Inspector Ajit Chauhan then told reporters that he was there to serve the SC-mandated NBW on Roy. “We could not find him inside though we searched the premises,” he said, adding that the next course of action would be decided by senior officers.

SSP Kumar said he was confident that the police would be able to produce Roy before the apex court on March 4.
COURTESY:
Pervez Iqbal Siddiqui TNN
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