A non-bailable warrant has been issued by the apex court against Sahara chief Subrata Roy for not appearing in court on Wednesday despite his plea for exemption from personal appearance being rejected a day before. The police have been directed to produce Roy in court on March 4.

On February 20, Roy and three other directors - Shankar Dubey, Ashok Roy Choudhary and Vandana Bhargava - were summoned by the top court after they failed to refund Rs 19,000 crore to investors. Roy’s request for exemption from personal appearance citing the reason of his mother's illness was rejected by the top court on Tuesday.

While the three directors appeared in the court today, there was again a no-show by Roy. According to media reports, on the exemption request made by Roy’s lawyer again, the apex court said, “The arms of this court are very long. Yesterday you made a similar request. We declined. Today you are making the same request. When other directors have appeared, why can't he?.... For the last two years, we granted exemption from personal appearance.”

Sahara has been in payments crisis for a long-time after it failed to refund millions of investors Rs 24,000 crore raised by two of its group companies which according to the markets watchdog Securities and Exchange Bureau of India (Sebi) was done illegally. In August 2012, the supreme court had ordered Sahara to refund the entire amount raised from investors with interest.