Supreme Court verdict in Adani-Hindenburg case today, stage set for another BJP-Congress face-off

Supreme Court verdict in Adani-Hindenburg case today, stage set for another BJP-Congress face-off

A year after US-based investment research firm Hindenburg Research’s accusations of stock price manipulation against the Adani Group led to a major war of words between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress-led Opposition, a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court will on Wednesday pronounce its verdict in the case.

The top court’s verdict comes over a month after it reserved its judgment in November on a batch of petitions regarding the allegations of stock price manipulation by the Adani Group.

In May 2023, the court also appointed a six-member committee to investigate if there was any failure on the part of regulators. The panel found no evidence of regulatory failure on the part of SEBI and said in May that there was “no coherent pattern of abusive trading”.

The allegations levelled by US-based short-seller Hindenburg triggered a major political row last year, even leading to a washout of the entire Budget Session. The Opposition, which used the opportunity to unite in Parliament against the BJP, sought to link the rise of industrialist Gautam Adani to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and also demanded a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into the allegations against the Adani Group.

The verdict today comes just ahead of the Lok Sabha elections and could, possibly have ramifications on the prospects of the BJP and the Congress. While a judgment against the Adani Group will be lapped up by the Opposition to score one over the BJP, a judgment rejecting wrongdoing on the part of Adani or a regulatory failure would automatically arm the BJP with ammo to target the Congress for seeking to malign the Prime Minister’s image.