Cong reiterates demand for probe

New Delhi: Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Monday reiterated the demand for a probe into US-based short-seller Hindenburg Research allegations that Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI) chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch and her husband Dhaval Buch had a stake in obscure offshore entities used in “the Adani money siphoning scandal” while demanding the resignation of the chief of the stock market regulator to restore its integrity.

“The Supreme Court, empowered by the Constitution, must transfer the investigation to the CBI or a Special Investigation Team (SIT) given the likelihood of SEBI’s compromise. At a minimum, the SEBI Chairperson must resign to restore SEBI’s integrity,” he said.

Madhabi Puri Buch and Dhaval Buch denied the allegations saying they were “devoid of any truth”. The Adani Group called the charges “malicious, mischievous, and manipulative selections of publicly available information”. Ramesh claimed the Adani ‘mega scam’ extends beyond the 24 matters under SEBI’s investigation. He added It encompasses the source of the Rs 20,000 crore benami funds invested in the Adani Group, the over-invoicing of thousands of crores in coal and power equipment, and the laundering of those proceeds.

“Additionally, it involves the granting of monopolies to the Adani Group in critical infrastructure sectors, and the manipulation of Indian foreign policy to secure Adani assets in neighbouring countries like Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.... The path forward is to immediately convene a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) to investigate the full extent of the Modani mega scam involving the self-anointed non-biological PM and a perfectly biological businessman.”