Hindenburg row: SC to pronounce verdict today on pleas seeking probe against Adani Group

The Supreme Court (SC) will pronounce the verdict on Wednesday on the batch of petitions seeking an investigation into allegations of fraud by Hindenburg against the Adani Group. The judgement is expected to be delivered at 10:30 am.

In January last year, US-based shortseller Hindenburg accused the Indian conglomerate of indulging in fraud and share-price manipulation. Several petitions were filed in the apex court for the court-monitored probe against the group. 

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In November last year, after a series of hearings, the top court reserved the order in the case. On the day it reserved the order, the SC said it had no reason to "discredit" SEBI, which probed allegations against the Adani Group, as there was no material before it to doubt what the market regulator has done and the court does not have to treat what was set out in the Hindenburg report as a "true state of affairs".

A bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud said it cannot ask a statutory regulator to take as a "gospel truth" something that was published in the media. "We don't have to treat what is set out in the Hindenburg report as ipso facto (automatically) a true state of affairs. That is why we directed the SEBI to investigate. Because for us to accept something which is in the report of an entity, which in not before us and whose veracity we have no means of testing, would really be unfair," the bench, also comprising justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, told advocate Prashant Bhushan, who was appearing for one of the petitioners.

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A SC-appointed expert committee had in an interim report in May stated that it found "no evident pattern of manipulation" in Gautam Adani's companies and there was no regulatory failure. The Adani Group stocks had plunged following the scathing allegations by Hindenburg Research. The Adani Group, however,  dismissed the charges as lies, saying it complies with all laws and disclosure requirements.
 

(With inputs from PTI)