Congress holds protest at Jantar Mantar

New Delhi: The Indian Youth Congress staged a protest at Jantar Mantar here on Monday and demanded a joint parliamentary committee probe into the fraud allegations against the Adani Group.

Led by Indian Youth Congress (IYC) national president Srinivas B V, the protesters raised slogans against the Modi government and carried placards reading: "Taxpayers' money through SBI and LIC was poured into the Adani Group. But now why govt has no answers".

Adani Group stocks have taken a beating on the bourses after US-based activist short-seller Hindenburg Research made a litany of allegations, including fraudulent transactions and share price manipulation, against the Gautam Adani-led group, which has dismissed the allegations as lies. Opposition parties, including the Congress, have alleged that the meltdown in Adani Group shares is a scam that involves common people's money as LIC and SBI have invested in them.

"The Adani scandal is the biggest scam of independent India. The Modi government is silent on the allegations of fraud against the Adani group, which is an indication of its complicity in the matter. "The prime minister talks about his honesty and 'neeti' (policy) against corruption. In such a situation, (when) serious allegations have been levelled against a business house, then why are the prime minister and the finance minister silent," asked Srinivas. Demanding a joint parliamentary committee probe into the allegations against the Adani Group, he said, "The BJP has misused agencies (ED, CBI and DRI) for years to intimidate opponents and punish many business houses. In such a situation, what action has been taken to investigate the serious allegations against Adani Group? Is there any hope of a fair investigation under the current leadership," he asked. A protester said, "It has been 13 days since the report related to the Adani Group scam came, but Prime Minister Modi has not uttered a single word. The Opposition is demanding a discussion on the issue in the House and Prime Minister Modi is running away from this." The protesters also took out a protest march and climbed over barricades erected by police. They also burnt briefcases labelled as LIC and SBI to convey that public money has been burnt as part of the "scam". Some of the protesters were later detained by police. "Some members of the Indian Youth Congress, including its national president Srinivas B V, were detained and taken to Mandir Marg police station from where they were released after some time," a senior police officer said.