SC Rejects Petitions Seeking SIT Probe Against Adani Group, Asks SEBI to End Probe in 3 Months

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday quashed petitions seeking to transfer the probe into allegations of stock price manipulation levelled by the Hindenburg Report against Adani Group from SEBI to an SIT.

A three-judge Bench headed by CJI DY Chandrachud said there was no ground here to transfer the probe in this case and it could only be raised if there was willful or deliberate violation of rules.

Noting that SEBI had already completed probes into 22 of the 24 matters, the Bench directed SEBI to complete the investigation in the other two cases in three months.

The Bench, however, said, “This court has the power under Articles 32 and 142 to transfer the probe to CBI, etc, but such powers can only be used sparingly and this court will not ordinarily supplant this role, and the petitioners must put forth strong evidence to show that the investigative agency acted in a biased manner.”

The report of OCCRP cannot be taken into account to doubt the SEBI investigation, it said.

“The reliance on OCCRP report is rejected and reliance on a third party organisation report without any verification cannot be relied upon as a proof,” the top court said.

While reserving the verdict, the top court had on November 24 said that it had no reason to “discredit” SEBI, which probed allegations against the Adani group, as there was no material before it to doubt what the market regulator had done and the court did not have to treat what was set out in the Hindenburg report as a “true state of affairs”.

Acting on PILs, the Supreme Court had in its March 2, 2023 order also asked SEBI to investigate into allegations of market manipulation against the Adani Group levelled in the Hindenburg report.