Indian tycoon 'detained by wife, company executives'

NEW DELHI, Wednesday (AFP) Billionaire tycooon Subroto Roy is being illegally detained by his wife and two company executives, an Indian court has heard according to a press report. Bharat Nath Shukla, who calls himself a friend of Roy, filed a petition with Allahabad High Court asking it to send police to rescue the Sahara group chief and produce him in court.

The Press Trust of India said Shukla's petition alleged that Roy, one of India's wealthiest businessmen, was being held by his wife Swapna and two senior Sahara executives. Roy has not been seen in public since a company function on April 1, 2005. He rarely gives interviews but a press release on Tuesday said he would be incommunicado for the next six months on advice from his doctors to get more rest and exercise.

"God has still not given me any disease other than a few reversible mild disorders," he said in the statement. "I should be back to work after six months of rest to lead a disease-free and disorder-free life and contribute to the company more productively."

Roy's Sahara group has posted meteoric growth after starting off 25 years ago as a rural saving scheme with three workers.

It now has 700,000 workers on its payroll and has an airline, a TV station, newspapers, a construction company and a bank with more than 50 million depositors. The court asked police to respond to the petition but did not set a date for the next hearing, PTI said.