Subrata Roy Death: Earning Rs 1,500 in Gorakhpur, How Sahara Chief Built an Empire Worth Over Rs 1.5L Cr

The mortal remains of Sahara Group chief Subrata Roy, who at a private hospital in Mumbai a day ago, will be flown to Lucknow on Wednesday, where his last rites will be performed on Thursday.

Chetan Upadhyaya, founder secretary of the Satya Foundation, told reporters late on Tuesday: “The mortal remains will be taken to Lucknow tomorrow, and most possibly the last rites will be performed the day after tomorrow.”

How Subrata Roy Began with Just Rs 1,500 and Built an Empire Worth Rs 1.5L Cr

The embattled Sahara conglomerate chief’s life has been an interesting one. He started earning at the age of 30 while doing a diploma course in mechanical engineering from Gorakhpur. At that time, in 1978, he reportedly earned Rs 1,500.

Thirty-six years later, he built a business empire worth more than Rs 1.5 lakh crore. Over the years, he invested in many sectors, including finance, real estate, media, healthcare, entertainment, consumer goods and tourism.

He started from Gorakhpur in 1978 and soon went international. Sahara Group’s Aamby Valley City in Mumbai, Grosvenor House in London and New York Plaza Hotel in New York are known for their state-of-art facilities.

Roy was once the sponsor of India’s national cricket team. He also co-owned the former Force India Formula One team, and sponsored the hockey team.

Other Investments of Subrata Roy Across India

• Banking: Through ‘Para Banking’, the Sahara Group added a large number of depositors. Their activities are spread across the country with over 5,000 service offices and over 12 lakh employees.

• Housing Finance: The Sahara Group claims that its ‘HousingFina Corporation Limited’ is a BSE Listed and National Housing Bank (NHB) registered and regulated housing finance company, which caters to the financial needs for housing all over its presence in the country, through “attractive and competitive” loan schemes and products.

• Real Estate: Through the Real Estate Company and Housing Investment Corporation, Subrata Roy purchased land on a large scale across the country, developed it and started many housing schemes.

Apart from Lucknow, Sahara started residential schemes in Kanpur, Gorakhpur, Hyderabad, Bhopal, Kochi, Gurgaon and Pune and other cities. They also tied up with American Building Company.

• Media: Subrata Roy started news and entertainment channels and newspapers in Hindi and other regional languages.

• Hospitality: Subrata Roy established the Sahara Star Hotel at Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport in Mumbai, and also launched hotels abroad.

• Retail and Power: He launched ‘Q Shop’ one-and-a-half-years ago, and also invested in the field of power generation in Orissa, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh.

• Airlines: Roy started Air Sahara.

• Education: He launched Sahara College of Nursing and Paramedical Sciences in Lucknow.

• Lucknow-based Investments: Subrata Roy built Sahara City, Sahara Estate and Sahara Homes. A 350-bed Sahara Hospital was also built in city’s posh Gomti Nagar area. He built the Sahara Mall in Hazratganj, which is city’s centre. The facility came up at a time when the mall culture was just introduced in the city. Q-shops have been opened at many places.

Once Upon a Time, Subrata Roy’s Security Was Tighter Than Top Netas

At the time when Akhilesh Yadav was the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, it is said that Subrata Roy’s security was stronger than the CM himself. Private security guards and a heavy police force accompanied Roy. Sahara’s convoy included many foreign cars and police vehicles.

Subrata Roy’s ‘Neta, Abhineta’ Connection

Subrata Roy’s interaction with who’s who of the country began during the tenure of Veer Bahadur Singh as the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh. Roy was considered as a close confidant of Singh.

When Singh died under suspicious circumstances in Paris, Subrata Roy joined Mulayam Singh Yadav, who had succeeded Singh as the CM.

In those days, Amitabh Bachchan had returned to the entertainment world after a brief stint in politics. On the other hand, Mulayam Singh’s clout was growing as he reached ‘Dilli Darbar’, and also became the defence minister. During this time, ‘Sahara Shree’ Subrata Roy met Amar Singh.

Amar Singh’s formula of balancing politics, cinema and power changed the picture of Lucknow in those days.

Amar Singh was reportedly close of Amitabh Bachchan then. The megastar of Bollywood had been facing losses at that time, and his company AB Corp was reportedly on the verge of bankruptcy.

During this time, Roy had also launched Air Sahara, which reportedly was engaged in “personal services of the country’s top leaders and film stars” despite being a public airline service.

Chartered flights from Mumbai, packed with film stars, began flying to Lucknow and then to Saifai — Mulayam Singh’s hometown. Thus, Uttar Pradesh came on the map of Hindi cinema fuelled by Amitabh Bachchan’s frequent visits. Bachchan reportedly became a member of the executive council of Sahara.

Lucknow’s Most Expensive Wedding. Thanks to Subrata Roy

In February 2004, India saw its most expensive wedding in Lucknow when Subrata Roy got his sons, Sushanto and Seemat, married at an expenditure of around Rs 250 crore.

Reportedly, the number of chartered flights entering and exiting Lucknow saw such an increase that people lost the count. The veteran film director of those days, Rajkumar Santoshi, apparently also made a movie of the entire wedding.

Hemant Oberoi, the head chef of the most prestigious Taj Group of Hotels, was given the responsibility to prepare dishes for the guests.

A special symphony orchestra was called from London and the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was on the guest list too. Mulayam Singh also threw his son’s reception party in Sahara City. This combination of power and business continued uninterrupted for almost two decades until Mayawati’s government came into power.

She started to directly target the Sahara City and bulldozers became a part of the political culture of Uttar Pradesh. A large part of Sahara city was razed on Mayawati’s instructions.

Subrata Roy Controversies

Subrata Roy’s troubles began in November 2010 when stock market regulator Sebi asked two entities of Sahara Group not to mobilise funds from equity markets or from issuance of any security to the public while restraining Roy from approaching the public for raising money.

Roy was arrested in 2014 on the orders of the Supreme Court after he failed to appear before it in a contempt case arising out of non-refund of more than Rs 20,000 crore to investors by two of his companies.

After a long process of appeals and cross-appeals, the Supreme Court had ordered in 2012 refund of deposits of its investors along with 15 per cent interest.

Sahara was eventually asked to deposit an estimated Rs 24,000 crore with Sebi for further refund to investors, though the group always maintained it amounted to “double payment” as it had already refunded more than 95 per cent of investors directly.

Once asked for proof of repayment, Roy famously sent across 100 truckloads of documents to Sebi, triggering a unique warehousing crisis for the regulator.

In another incident, a man from Gwalior threw ink on Roy’s face and called him a thief when he was brought to the Supreme Court in his trademark waistcoat and tie amid chaotic scenes.

Netflix Series on Subrata Roy

Sahara and Roy had been in the spotlight in 2020 after they got a district court to stall the release of Netflix’s series “Bad Boy Billionaires” featuring Roy, among others, claiming it would damage his reputation.

Netflix later released the show after the court lifted its injunction.