Supreme Court has refused to order a Special Investigation Team (SIT) probe into the Adani-Hindenburg controversy. Rejecting the plea to transfer the probe from Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to SIT, a bench comprising Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra said, the market regulator has not been lackadaisical in the investigation. In a major relief to Adani Group, Supreme Court said it can’t enter into the domain of the regulatory regime and the report of Hindenburg or anything like that cannot become the basis of ordering a separate probe.
Saying that the SEBI will continue its probe as per the law, the apex court directed the market regulator to complete its probe into the remaining matter within three months. The SEBI has investigated 22 out of the 24 cases linked to the US-based short seller Hindenburg Research’s allegations. The apex court gave the SEBI three months to complete investigation in the remaining two cases. The Supreme Court also ordered the government and SEBI to check whether Hindenburg has ignored rules in shorting the market and to take action accordingly.
