India’s billionaire businessman and a close friend of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Gautam Adani, on Thursday returned to social media after a gap of one month to react to Supreme Court’s order. Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud on Thursday set up a five-member committee headed by former judge, AM Sapre. The Supreme Court’s order came amidst continuing bloodbath faced by the Adani Group companies following the publication fo a damning report by Hindenburg Research.
CJI Chandrachud said in his order that five members of the committee will be OP Bhat, Justice JP Devdatt, Nandan Nilakeni, KV Kamath and Somasekharan Sundaresan. This committee will monitor the investigation carried out by the SEBI into allegations of stock manipulation and financial fraud by the Adani Group.
CJI Chandrachud also added that the SEBI will also investigate whether there has been a violation of S 19 of SEBI rules and if there was also any manipulation of stock prices.
“The SEBI shall expeditiously conclude the investigation in two months and file a status report,” Livelaw quoted CJI Chandrachud as saying.
Reacting to the Supreme Court order, Adani tweeted, “The Adani Group welcomes the order of the Hon’ble Supreme Court. It will bring finality in a time bound manner. Truth will prevail.”
The Adani Group welcomes the order of the Hon’ble Supreme Court. It will bring finality in a time bound manner. Truth will prevail.
— Gautam Adani (@gautam_adani) March 2, 2023
Adani had vanished from Twitter after his personal fortune nosedived in the wake of the Hindenburg Research report. From being the second-richest person in the world, Adani is currently placed 28th in the list of the richest people in the world. He’s lost more than $100 billion in personal fortune since the publication of the report.
India’s opposition party has demanded a thorough investigation against Adani by a Joint Parliamentary Committee.
Twitter recently exploded with claims that Indians living in the UAE were queuing up outside a Bank of Baroda branch to close their account to protest against the bank’s decision to continue lending to Adani. However, as first reported by JantaKaReporter, the claim was found to be false.