Sebi orders seizure of Sahara arms" assets Two subsidiaries of Sahara India Pariwar face having their assets seized by India's securities regulator, which claimed that the group failed to repay an estimated 30m investors a total $3bn it raised in 2008. The Securities and Exchange Board of India has ordered the seizure of the assets of two real estate arms of Sahara, one of India's biggest real estate and media groups, as well as the personal assets of the group's enigmatic founder, Subrata Roy. Banks have been ordered to move all funds in the frozen accounts into a special account established to refund investors. Sebi's move escalates a long-running dispute between market regulators and the privately held group over convertible bonds that the subsidiaries, Sahara India Real Estate Corp and the Sahara Housing Investment Corp, issued in 2008. In 2011 Sebi ordered Lucknow-based Sahara to repay the bond investors along with annual interest of 15 per cent a year, saying the company had flouted capital market rules by calling the bond issue a "private placement" to avoid regulatory scrutiny. India's Supreme Court upheld the Sebi order in a ruling in January. Sebi has accused Sahara of deliberately delaying the repayment and pressuring investors to roll their bonds over into alternative financial products, which the group denies. Responding to the Sebi order, Sahara said it had already repaid many investors, and that its remaining liability was "not likely to exceed $930m," which it said had already been deposited with the authorities. "Sahara remains genuinely concerned for investors," the company said in a statement. Sahara is one of India's highest profile and yet most mysterious companies. The group, which began in the 1970s, has developed some of India's most coveted real estate projects, such as Aamby Valley near Pune, and also owns national and regional television channels. Sahara sponsors the national cricket team and has a Formula One racing team. In the past few years, it has also bought trophy assets abroad, such as London's Grosvenor Hotel, and it recently spent $575m to buy a majority stake in Manhattan's Plaza Hotel from the investment fund owned by Saudi investor Prince Alwaleed bin Talal. The company has raised billions from small investors, mostly poor families with no access to banks or other financial services, across north India, especially its home state of Uttar Pradesh. Mr Roy has close associations with leading politicians and Bollywood film stars. He describes himself as Sahara's "managing worker" and is an elusive man, who rarely gives interviews. He also calls himself the guardian of the world's largest family. The company sponsors a mass wedding for 101 poor young women from different religious backgrounds every year.