India’s Sahara group boss Subrata Roy attacked with ink at court

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Chairman of Sahara India Pariwar Subrata Roy, his face smeared with ink thrown by a lawyer, walks into the Supreme Court in New Delhi, India, on Tuesday. Photo: AP

Published: 7:00pm, 4 Mar 2014Updated: 7:07pm, 4 Mar 2014

A protester splattered the boss of India’s giant Sahara group with ink on Tuesday as he arrived at the Supreme Court for a hearing over delays in repaying billions of dollars to small investors.

The shirtless protester attacked flamboyant billionaire Subrata Roy, whose face was blackened with the ink, as he reached the top court in New Delhi following his arrest last week.

As guards whisked away Roy, the protester yelled “thief” before a group of lawyers and Sahara supporters starting beating him up, as police dragged him away from the court.

Policemen detain an Indian lawyer after he threw ink on Chairman of Sahara India Pariwar Subrata Roy outside the Supreme Court in New Delhi, India, on Tuesday. Photo: AP

Roy “wilfully submitted himself” to police on Friday, two days after the court ordered his arrest over delays in repaying billions of dollars collected from rural savers through illegal bond sales.

The court issued the order after Roy’s lawyers said he could not appear in person at a hearing last week because his elderly mother was ill, frustrating the judges and further delaying the 18-month-old case.

Sahara, a famous name in India through its former sponsorship of the national cricket team, raised about 200 billion rupees (US$3.2 billion) from millions of savers in a process judged by authorities in 2012 to be against the law.