Despair still shrouds Sahara's duped investors decades later

For most of his life, Intezar Ali was a gregarious and popular man. Born in the Basti-neighbourhood of Gorakhpur, Ali was 25years old when he was appointed a regional officer by the Sahara group, among the first handful of people hired by the then fledgling company.

- Rohit Singh and Abdur Rehman

In the eastern Uttar Pradesh town at the time, Sahara group founder Subrata Roy’s exploits were legendary, having gone from selling snacks on his Lambretta scooter to jousting with the choicest Bollywood celebrities, corporate titans and cricketers. As the stature of Sahara “shri” Roy boomed, so did Ali’s standing among his peers. He would go from house to house, convincing people to invest in the Sahara schemes by way of investments of as low as ₹20 and assuring impossibly handsome returns later. “I had 8 to 10 teams and as many promoters under me and each team had 10 collection agents,” he said, now 65 years old.

By the late 2000s, however, the tide was turning. Sahara was caught in a vortex of ponzi scheme allegations and the market regulators were closing in. Roy, the founder and chairman of Sahara, was arrested in March 2014 for failing to attend a contempt of court hearing. He got bail in 2016 but by then, the business had been wrecked, and his reputation was shot. And when Roy died late on Tuesday after a period of illness, Ali was left despondent.

“I don’t attend any events, even family weddings, and avoid public functions for fear of being besieged by investors wanting their money back,” said Ali.