In the wake of the report released by US-based short-seller Hindenburg Research, which alleged that the ports-to-power conglomerate had inflated share prices of its companies through manipulations and malpractice, a writ petition was filed in the Supreme Court on February 14 asking for an investigation against the Adani Group.

The petition also requests an investigation into the Life Insurance Corporation's and State Bank of India's alleged involvement in the investment of "huge amounts of public money" in the FPO of Adani Enterprises at a price of Rs. 3200 per share, when the going rate for the shares on the secondary market was approximately Rs. 1800 per share.

Congress lawmaker Dr. Jaya Thakur filed the petition, in which she claims that Gautam Adani and his accomplices "swindled lakhs of crores of public money." The petitioner requests an investigation by law enforcement agencies such as the CBI, ED, DRI, SEBI, RBI, and SFIO, among others, under the oversight and control of an active Supreme Court judge.

It should be mentioned that the Supreme Court is currently deliberating over two further PILs that call for an investigation into Hindenburg Research for allegedly manipulating the stock market through short-selling. Last Friday, when it was reviewing the petitions, the Supreme Court expressed worry about safeguarding Indian investors from this type of market volatility and asked the Union Government and SEBI for their opinions on how to improve the regulatory framework. An expert committee should be formed to assess the regulatory structure, according to the bench headed by CJI DY Chandrachud. The Court was careful to stress that it wasn't questioning the authority of SEBI or other authorities while making these observations.

Dr. Thakur's petition, which was submitted today, includes various accusations of wrongdoing against the Adani Group. According to the lawsuit, the Hindenburg investigation reveals that Gautam Adani, his brother, and their colleagues engaged in massive amounts of money laundering using a variety of offshore shell companies they established up in various tax havens.

The petitioner further claims that it should be looked into whether investments in Adani group companies by LIC and SBI violated their obligations to investors and the general public.