Sahara's Subrata Roy moved back to jail cell, special privileges withdrawn

Subrata Roy, the founder and chairman of Sahara Group, is back in a jail cell after living in a makeshift prison office for two months as he tried to negotiate the sale of his luxury hotels, a jail official said on Thursday.

The Sahara chief had been allowed to use an office, phone, internet connection and three secretaries in the Delhi prison to facilitate the sale of the three hotels including Grosvenor House in London and the Plaza in New York.

He needs to raise Rs 100 billion ($1.6 billion) from the hotel sales to have a chance of release on bail.

Roy was jailed for contempt of court in March amid a long-running dispute with the capital markets watchdog over Sahara's failure to repay billions of dollars to investors who were sold outlawed bonds.

The Sahara chief was moved back to a cell after a court-imposed deadline for the use of the office expired, although the businessman had requested more time, Tihar Jail spokesman Mukesh Prasad said.

"He was asking officials. We told him we don't have the power to extend those facilities," the spokesman said.

The company says it is in talks with multiple potential buyers but a company spokesman did not answer calls seeking comment on Thursday.

In September, a senior company executive told Reuters that the firm would prefer mortgaging its trophy overseas hotel properties rather than selling them.

(Reuters)