India's Supreme Court orders arrest of Grosvenor House owner

A warrant for the arrest of Subrata Roy, owner of London's Grosvenor House hotel, has been ordered after he failed to appear at a court hearing in his home country of India.

Roy heads the Sahara India Pariwar conglomerate of companies, which failed to refund £1.9b to 30 million Indian investors after illegally raising the money through a retail bond scheme, reported The Times.

India's Supreme Court was told that Roy, who also owns the Plaza hotel in New York as well as a string of properties, media, entertainment and healthcare businesses, had not appeared because his 92-year-old mother was very ill.

However, the court rejected an application for Roy to be exempt from the hearing and issued the arrest warrant.

Sahara acquired Grosvenor House hotel on Park Lane for £470m in 2010.

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