Three months after he vanished from public eye, Subrata Roy, founder and managing worker of the Rs.500-billion ($10.87 billion) Sahara group, resurfaced Friday in a recorded video clip shown by several channels.

"Some petty-minded people have been spreading all kinds of rumours about me," Roy, who turned 58 Friday, said in the clip.

"While I have urged the central government to enact a law to punish rumour- mongers, I would also ask you all to teach them a lesson of their life," he said in the clip, addressing employees of his group.

Roy - who has founded a group with interest that spans para-banking and aviation to broadcasting and real estate - also sought to explain why he had kept himself away from public eye for three months and the reason for not meeting anyone.

"I was trying to utilize all these months to recuperate and revitalize my energies so that I could life a healthy life for the next 20-25 years," said Roy, who maintained he was earlier suffering from blood pressure surges.

"I chose not to meet anyone because I do not like to discriminate between people wanting to see. I could not have allowed a close friend and denied audience to others," he said.

"I am among the one per cent disease-free people in this country."

For the past three months, there had been intense speculation in the media and the corporate world over the health of the flamboyant business tycoon who claims to have built his $10.87-billion business empire in just 27 years.

This had led to a habeas corpus petition in the Allahabad High Court, claiming some family members and officials had kept Roy in detention to siphon off his money. The petition was summarily dismissed last month.

Roy also gave an interview to two leading dailies that was published Friday in which he also sought to end speculation over a succession struggle within the group, adding that the empire would be handled by a trust he is forming.

The businessman was also shown doing a workout, practising yoga and playing cricket in photos that accompanied the interview.

The Sahara founder, who prefers using the title of managing worker, was in the limelight last year for spending billions of rupees in the wedding of his two sons, Sushanto and Seemanto.