Sebi moves SC against Sahara for 'obstruction' of Aamby Valley auction

New Delhi: Markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has moved a contempt petition in the Supreme Court against Subrata Roy's Sahara Group for alleged obstruction in the auction of Aamby Valley project.

This move comes despite the apex court’s direction in September to go ahead with the scheduled auction of Aamby Valley property in Maharashtra, as it rejected Sahara Group Chief Subrata Roy's plea for some more time.

In its petition on Tuesday, Sebi told the Supreme Court that Sahara had not paid money to all the investors while the latter claimed that it had almost paid more than 75 per cent of the due.

In August, the Supreme Court had asked the embattled group to deposit Rs 1,500 crore in a dedicated Sebi account by September 7. It had also said that the Aamby Valley auction process would be stopped if the company furnished the payment in time.

The Aamby Valley auction process kicked off on August 14, with the official liquidator inviting bids at a reserve price of Rs 37,392 crore.

Sebi had moved the Supreme Court in August 2014 to recover Rs 36,000 crore from Subrata Roy's group to refund investors who had purchased securities from two group firms.