The Supreme Court has accepted Sahara chief Subrata Roy's unconditional apology for ignoring the apex court's summons repeatedly. In a day filled with drama, the Sahara chief entered the Supreme Court premises on Tuesday with his forehead smeared black after a chubby man claiming to be a lawyer threw black ink at the arrested tycoon.

"I threw ink at Subrata Roy as he is a thief and has robbed the poor," the ink attacker identified as Manoj Sharma from Gwalior shouted at the reporters, who had gathered outside the apex court for the hearing.

Sahara chief Subrata Roy ducks after black ink was thrown at him outside the Supreme Court. Sahara chief Subrata Roy ducks after black ink was thrown at him outside the Supreme Court.

Calling himself an investor, the man in his 30s had waited for Roy, who was wearing his trade mark waistcoat and tie, to get out of one of the cars of the police convoy that had brought him a little after noon from nearby Noida to the court premises and blackened his face shouting "Sahara chor hai".

His torso was almost bare, the shirt torn off after being beaten up by some lawyers who had gathered. The unfazed man was hurriedly taken away by police.

Our Take: Ink on your face, big disgrace. Really?



Roy was arrested by Uttar Pradesh Police on February 28 on a non-bailable warrant issued against him by the apex court for failing to appear before it in person as directed.

The attempt of security personnel to bring Roy inside the Court premises through another gate did not bear fruit as waiting photo journalists rushed to the place where Roy Chief got down from the police vehicle.

Sharma, who reportedly has a previous record of having thrown a shoe at Congress MP Suresh Kalmadi when he was being brought to a court, removed his shirt and shouted that "He is a thief. He has stolen people's money and I am against thieves".

The Uttar Pradesh security personnel, in whose custody he has been since Friday, got entry passes issued for themselves and the Sahara Chief to ensure his presence before a bench of Justices K S Radhakrishnan and J.S. Khehar at 2 PM.

To ensure smooth entry of Roy inside the court building, the security personnel ordered temporary closure of one of the two entry gates around 1 PM.

The bench had earlier taken serious note of Roy's absence before it and had issued non-bailable warrant against him and production by 2 PM.

The subsequent last-ditch effort to get the arrest warrant recall did not fructify as the bench had rejected the plea.

The order to arrest Roy was issued after his failure to appear before the apex court in the contempt case arising out of non-refund of Rs 20,000 crore to investors by two of his companies. The court had issued non-bailable warrant against Roy after he failed to appear before it on February 26.

Roy had sought exemption from personal appearance on the ground of ill-health of his 92-year-old mother.

The Sahara chief had on February 27 approached the apex court tendering an "unconditional apology" for his non-appearance in the contempt case and had sought recall of the NBW. The plea was declined by the court.

Roy was arrested in Lucknow on March 1 after he surrendered to police.

The three directors of Sahara Group, who were also summoned along with Roy, had appeared in the court.

The court had on February 20 come down heavily on the Sahara group for not refunding the investors' money despite its order and summoned Roy, Ravi Shankar Dubey, Ashok Roy Choudhary and Vandana Bhargava, directors of its firms Sahara India Real Estate Corp Ltd (SIREC) and Sahara India Housing Investment Corp Ltd (SHIC) to be personally present before it.

-With PTI and IANS inputs

