Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, Feb 9: The Supreme Court on Thursday agrees to hear on Friday two public interest litigations (PILs) seeking a court-monitored investigation into short-seller Hindenburg Research’s ‘conspiracy’ against the Adani Group causing monumental loss to investors.
The PILs – filed by advocates ML Sharma and Vishal Tiwari – claim United States-based Hindenburg short-sold Adani stocks caused monumental losses to investors. Vishal Tiwari mentioned the matter before Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, Justice PS Narasimha, and Justice JB Pardiwala today for urgent hearing.
Tiwari said in his petition “The report has tarnished the image of (the) country. It is affecting the economy.”
The CJI agreed to the request and directed for the PIL to be tagged with another one which is listed tomorrow (10th February 2023).
Sharma’s petition claimed media hype over the report had adversely affected the markets, and that Hindenburg founder Nathan Anderson had failed to provide proof of his claims to Indian regulators – the Securities and Exchange Board of India.
The other petition in question is filed by serial litigant Advocate ML Sharma and seeks to declare ‘short-selling’ as the offence of fraud. The said petition seeks investigation against Nathan Anderson, the founder of Hindenburg, ‘for exploiting innocent Investors via short selling under
the garb of artificial crashing’.
Notably, Hindenburg’s report claims ‘brazen accounting fraud and stock manipulation’ by the Gautam Adani-led conglomerate which has triggered a massive political and financial row in India, with the opposition targeting the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party over alleged links between prime minister Narendra Modi, and Adani.
Multiple adjournments of Parliament’s ongoing Budget session demanded that allegations against Adani be probed – either by a joint parliamentary committee or via a Supreme Court-monitored team have been forced by the Congress and other opposition parties, including the Trinamool Congress, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, the Shiv Sena and the Communist Party of India.
