FIR accuses Sahara executives of diverting crores, defying Supreme Court directives.
New Delhi: The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) in Bhopal on Friday filed a First Information Report (FIR) against top executives of the Sahara Group for allegedly orchestrating large-scale financial irregularities in the sale of land parcels across Madhya Pradesh. The FIR (No. 0116/2025) accuses the Sahara management of cheating, criminal conspiracy, and violating Supreme Court orders by diverting over Rs 72 crore in sale proceeds that were supposed to be deposited into the SEBI-Sahara Refund Account.
On January 26 this year, The Sunday Guardian had reported on the undervalued land sales, highlighting political links and the risk posed to investors’ refunds. Following this exposé, the Economic Offences Wing and other central agencies initiated action, including the registration of a Preliminary Examination, which culminated in the filing of the FIR on Friday, formally opening the case against Sahara Group officials. Sources said more names will be added in the FIR in the coming days, including politicians.
Named in the FIR are Simanto Rai, Chief Corporate Manager and son of Sahara Group founder Subrata Roy; J.B. Rai, Deputy Managing Worker and DGM (Commercial); and O.P. Srivastava, Deputy Managing Worker of Sahara Prime City Limited. The offences are alleged to have occurred between 1 July 2021 and 30 June 2024 and have been booked under IPC Sections 420 (cheating) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy).
This money belonged to millions of small investors—laborers, farmers, and small shopkeepers—who had invested their hard-earned savings in Sahara. Instead of returning their funds, the Sahara Group violated the law and used the money for personal gains.
The investigation began with complaints from whistleblowers Ashutosh Dixit (Manu), Deependra Singh Thakur, and Himanshu Pavaiya. According to the FIR, Sahara violated an 11 July 2016 Supreme Court directive that prohibited the sale of its immovable assets below 90% of the collector guideline rate and mandated that all proceeds—after deductions like TDS and statutory taxes—must be deposited into the SEBI-Sahara Refund Account.
Instead, Sahara allegedly sold around 508 acres of land across Bhopal, Jabalpur, Katni, Sagar, and Gwalior for Rs 123.72 crore, despite an estimated market value of over Rs 1,000 crore. The FIR states that of the total sales, Rs 72.82 crore from these land sales was not deposited into the SEBI-Sahara Refund Account but instead diverted into accounts held by Sahara-controlled co-operative societies and shell companies.
Documents reviewed as part of the investigation show that 110 acres of land in Bhopal were sold to Synap Real Estate Pvt. Ltd. for Rs 47.73 crore—far below the Rs 125 crore valuation Sahara itself submitted to the Supreme Court in 2014. In Sagar, 99.76 acres were sold for Rs 14.79 crore. In Jabalpur and Katni, two parcels of 99.44 acres each were sold for Rs 20.60 crore and Rs 22 crore, respectively. In Gwalior, 99.76 acres went for just Rs 18.60 crore. All transactions, investigators say, occurred at a fraction of their market value and in direct defiance of the Supreme Court’s mandate.
The FIR also alleges that deductions totaling Rs 10.29 crore were made unlawfully from the proceeds of the sales in Katni, Jabalpur, and Gwalior, under the pretext of customer liabilities and land development expenses. These amounts, along with the Rs 62.52 crore diverted from Bhopal and Sagar land sales, were never transferred to the designated refund account. Instead, they were allegedly moved to Sahara societies such as Hamara India Credit Co-operative Society and Sahara Credit Co-operative Society, as well as to entities like Akhilesh Realty Pvt. Ltd., which handled tax and other payments.
The complainants had alleged that local revenue officials helped facilitate the undervaluation by changing land-use classification from residential to agricultural, thereby reducing stamp duty and enabling low-price transactions.
The FIR notes that the Sahara executives—Simanto Rai, J.B. Rai, and O.P. Srivastava—as shareholders and decision-makers in Sahara Prime City Limited, directly oversaw the transactions and financial handling of the sale proceeds. Investigators say the conspiracy to undervalue and divert funds has caused “wrongful loss” to lakhs of ordinary citizens whose investments remain locked in the Sahara refund process.
