Sahara investors protest against government failure to refund deposits

February 01, 2024 08:40 pm | Updated 08:41 pm IST - NEW DELHI Hundreds of people who invested in four cooperatives run by the Sahara group protested in Delhi on February 1 against the government’s failure to refund the deposits. Ram Dulare, a sanitation worker from Delhi, said he had invested ₹2.5 lakh in the Sahara cooperatives six years ago but his claim was rejected on the portal. On July 18, 2023, the Central government set up the Central Registrar of Cooperative Societies portal — mocrefund.crcs.gov.in — for small investors in four cooperatives — Sahara Credit Cooperative Society Limited, Saharayn Universal Multipurpose Society Limited, Humara India Credit Cooperative Society Limited, and Stars Multipurpose Cooperative Society Limited. The Supreme Court in 2012 ordered Sahara to deposit ₹25,000 crore in the “Sahara-SEBI Refund Account” to refund the high-net worth investors of two other companies — the Sahara India Real Estate Corporation Limited and Sahara Housing India Corporation Limited. In 2023, the Ministry of Cooperation filed a petition in this regard before the Supreme Court seeking ₹5,000 crore from the unused corpus of the Sahara-SEBI refund account to refund the small-time depositors.