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This is going to be a landmark case

“This is going to be a landmark case,” said Mumbai-based Jitendra Nath Gupta, a former executive director at Securities and Exchange Board of India, or SEBI. “It will serve as a deterrent for the next generation of legal cases on shadow financing.”

The financier, who calls himself “Sahara Sri,” is part of the US$670 billion shadow banking industry in Asia’s third-largest economy. Roy earlier dismissed reports in newspapers including the Times of India that he was evading arrest after police, seeking to serve the warrant, couldn’t find him at his house.

“I am not that human being who will abscond,” Roy said in today’s media statement, explaining he had left his house in Lucknow to consult doctors on his mother’s medical reports when the police were looking for him. “I’ve started hating myself. Now, I can’t handle this level of agony and humiliation. They are bullying and indulging in character assassination.”

Sahara says the 31,675 cartons of documents in 128 truckloads it had sent to the SEBI proved it had repaid the money. Lawyers for the market watchdog have told the court the math is muddled and the paper trails often lead nowhere.

“We went to his house last night with a warrant,” Vidya Sagar Misra, Additional Superintendent of Police in the Gomti Nagar district of Uttar Pradesh, said by telephone. “He wasn’t there, so we came back.”

In today’s statement, Roy had sought house arrest until March 3. Sahara’s lawyers have again requested the Supreme Court “with a plea and a personal appeal” from Roy to withdraw the arrest warrant as he has voluntarily surrendered to the police, his son told reporters. Roy had assured the court that he will attend the next hearing on March 4, he said.