Supreme Court To Hear Tomorrow Pleas To Probe Hindenburg Report Against Adani Group

Another PIL has been filed in the Supreme Court of India in the wake of the Adani group shares taking a beating in the stock market following the publication of a report by US-based short-selling firm Hindenburg Research. Advocate Vishal Tiwari, the PIL petitioner, mentioned the matter before Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, Justice PS Narasimha, and Justice JB Pardiwala today for urgent listing.

When asked by the Chief Justice what the matter was pertaining, Advocate Vishal Tiwari submitted–

"A similar petition is also coming tomorrow. This pertains to the Hindenburg report which has tarnished the image of the country and caused loss. This may be also heard tomorrow with the other matter."

The PIL filed by Tiwari seeks the constitution of a committee under the head of a retired Supreme Court Judge to investigate the contents of the Hindeburg Research Report.

The CJI agreed to the request and directed for the PIL to be tagged with another one which is listed tomorrow (10th February 2023). 

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".

It was on January 24 that US-based Hindenburg published its report accusing Adani group of widespread manipulations and malpractices to inflate its stock prices. Adani Group refuted the allegations by publishing a 413-page reply and even went to the extent of terming it as attack against India. Hindeburg shot back with a rejoinder, saying that 'fraud cannot be obfuscated by nationalism' and stood by its report.

Since the publishing of the Hindeburg report, Adani shares have been nosediving in the sharemarket. The embattled group was also forced to recall its FPO, with the tumbling down of stock prices.