By Sumeet Chatterjee
MUMBAI (Reuters) - The Supreme Court has asked conglomerate Sahara to submit a fresh plan for raising funds against its properties after the collapse of negotiations with a U.S.-based firm last week, an independent lawyer advising the court on the case said.
Sahara has struggled to raise cash to fund bail for its jailed boss Subrata Roy. Last week it described as forged a Bank of America letter intended to show that U.S.-based Mirach Capital had enough funds to arrange a $2 billion deal.
Sahara had been in funding talks with Mirach for months, to pull together a deal that would have involved refinancing the conglomerate's overseas hotels, including New York's Plaza and Grosvenor House in London. Mirach has denied forging the bank letter.
"I mentioned the matter (in the court) because of the allegations and counter-allegations between Mirach and Sahara," Shekhar Naphade, an independent lawyer advising the Supreme Court on the case against Sahara boss Subrata Roy, told Reuters.
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The court then asked Sahara to submit a new fundraising plan, Naphade said. "As and when they make the application we will see," he said, adding the case would resume in the court after Sahara submits the proposal.
A spokesman for Sahara and Mirach's Chief Executive Saransh Sharma did not immediately respond to Reuters request for comment on the latest development.
When it accused the U.S.-based firm of forging the Bank of America letter underpinning the refinancing deal Sahara did not explicitly state that deal talks with Mirach had ended, but Naphade said there were no ongoing discussions.
"The deal with Mirach is over, they (Sahara lawyers) said openly in the court," Naphade said.
Sahara chairman Roy has been held in a New Delhi jail since last March on contempt charges after he failed to comply with a court order to repay investors in a bond scheme that was later ruled to be illegal.
Roy, who during his heyday socialized with presidents and film stars, is being held on $1.6 billion bail, the largest ever in India.
(Additional reporting by Suchitra Mohanty; Editing by Clara Ferreira Marques and Keith Weir)
