Adani-Hindenburg row: Plea filed in SC seeks review of January 3 verdict

A plea has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking review of its January 3 verdict by which it refused to transfer the probe into allegations of stock price manipulation by the Adani Group to a special investigation team or the CBI.

In a significant win for the Adani Group, the apex court had declined to order a CBI or SIT probe and said in its judgement that market regulator SEBI was conducting a "comprehensive investigation" into the allegations and its conduct "inspires confidence".

The petition claimed there were "mistakes and errors" in the judgment, and in light of certain new material that have been received by the counsel for the petitioner, there were sufficient reasons for a review of the verdict.

The review petition has been filed by Anamika Jaiswal, who was one of the petitioners in the case.

The plea, filed through advocate Neha Rathi, said the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) had in its report only updated the court about the status of the 24 investigations it undertook following the allegations, whether they were complete or incomplete, but did not disclose any findings or details of action taken.

"It cannot be concluded that there has been no regulatory failure unless the findings of the SEBI investigations are publicly reported," it said.

In its verdict, the apex court had noted the SEBI has completed its investigation in 22 out of the 24 matters where allegations had been levelled against the Adani Group.

"There are apparent errors on the face of the impugned order dated January 3, 2024 wherein this court rejected the petitioners prayer to constitute a court monitored SIT into the massive fraud involving market manipulation through offshore entities owned by promoters of Adani Group. Hence, the impugned judgment, is liable to be reviewed," the plea said.

The apex court had delivered its verdict on a batch of petitions on the Adani-Hindenburg Research row over allegations of stock price manipulation by the Indian business conglomerate.

The Adani Group stocks suffered a bloodbath on the bourses after Hindenburg Research made a litany of allegations, including those about fraudulent transactions and share-price manipulation, against it.

The Adani Group dismissed the charges as lies, asserting it complies with all laws and disclosure requirements.