The Supreme Court will hear two petitions on Friday, which have been filed to seek a court-monitored probe into short-seller Hindenburg Research’s report that accused the Adani Group of stock manipulation and accounting fraud by using shell firms over the course of decades. The petitions have been filed by advocates ML Sharma and Vishal Tiwari, who claimed that the report has led to a massive loss to investors.
On Thursday, Tiwari said in his public interest litigation that the report tarnished the country’s image and dented the economy. “The report has tarnished the image of (the) country. It is affecting the economy…” Tiwari said in his petition.
Last week, Sharma in his petition stated that media hype and news reports over the report had adversely affected the markets and that Hindenburg Research founder Nathan Anderson had failed to provide proof of his claims to the Indian market regulator, the Securities and Exchange Board of India.
Since the Hindenburg report was released last month, the Adani Group stocks have lost Rs 9.40 lakh crore.
The issue has also rocked the ongoing Budget session. The Opposition parties, including Congress, Trinamool Congress, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Shiv Sena, and the Communist Party of India, have asked for a probe by a joint parliamentary committee or via a Supreme Court-monitored team. The opposition parties have alleged that the meltdown in Adani Group shares is a ‘mega scam’ that involves common people’s money as public sector LIC and SBI.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said that “rules were changed” in some sectors to benefit Gautam Adani and his business. He connected the rise of the Adani group to that of PM Modi.
He added Modi’s relationship with Adani began many years ago during the time the former was a Gujarat chief minister. According to the Congress MP, after 2014, Gautam Adani’s ascent from 609th place to second place globally on the richest was “real magic”.
Replying to him, PM Narendra Modi on Wednesday said the trust reposed in him by crores of Indians was his “protective shield”, which couldn’t be breached by abuse and allegations from his detractors.
PM Modi also talked about India’s large growing startup ecosystem and over 100 unicorns created during the Covid-19 pandemic itself, in remarks seen as a staunch defence of India’s young business and entrepreneur community doing its bit for nation-building.
Earlier, the Himachal Pradesh State Excise and Taxation Department raided the Adani Wilmar stores among other Adani Group establishments in the Congress-led state. Last week, the Himachal Pradesh government said it wants to end the impasse created by the closure of two cement factories and indefinite strike by the truck operators union and the industries minister will hold talks with the Adani group to resolve the issue, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said on Saturday.
Raids On Adani Wilmar Premises In Solan, Himachal Pradesh
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