Adani-Hindenburg row: SEBI can't be asked to take media reports as gospel truth, says SC
New Delhi, Nov 24: A statutory regulator like SEBI cannot be asked to take as "gospel truth" something published in media, the Supreme Court observed on Friday while hearing arguments on the pleas concerning the Adani-Hindenburg row.
A bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud asked advocate Prashant Bhushan, who was representing one of the petitioners and was referring to Hindenburg report as well as some reports by the media and the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), should the SEBI be following up journalists.
"Therefore, should SEBI be following up journalists and ask a journalist, who is not subject to their jurisdiction, to disclose the underlying material," said the bench, also comprising justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra.
"I don't think you can ask a statutory regulator to take as a gospel truth something which is filed in a newspaper, whether in the Guardian or the Financial Times. We have no reason to discredit them (SEBI) ," the CJI observed.
Bhushan said if a journalist can get hold of the documents, how the SEBI, with all its vast powers of investigation, was not able to get hold of these materials.
"There is a growing tendency of planting stories outside India to influence things and policies inside India," Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the SEBI, said.
The apex court reserved its order on the pleas concerning the Adani-Hindenburg row on allegations of stock price manipulation.
During the hearing, Bhushan said there were many factual revelations made in the Hindenburg report.
"We don't have to treat what is set out in the Hindenburg report as ipso facto a true state of affair," the bench said, adding that was why it had asked the SEBI to investigate the matter.
"Therefore, we asked SEBI that you go an exercise your powers and test what has now come to light. You treat these as revelations or disclosure of allegations and you now exercise your jurisdiction as an adjudicating body," it said.
When Bhushan said several credible information were there in the Hindenburg report, the bench observed, "As a court, how do we treat it as credible? We will have to rely on our investigative agencies to investigate it".
"We can't make that assumption that it is either credible or lacking in credibility," it said.
The bench observed it has 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 has done.
At the outset, Mehta apprised the bench that investigation in 22 out of the 24 cases relating to allegations against the Adani group were over.
"For remaining two, we need information from foreign regulators etc. and some other information. We have been in consultation with them. Some information has come but that is where we are not in control of the time limit for obvious reasons...," he said.
The bench also heard submissions of advocates representing other petitioners.
A Supreme Court-appointed expert committee had in an interim report in May stated that it saw "no evident pattern of manipulation" in billionaire Gautam Adani's companies and there was no regulatory failure.
It, however, cited several amendments the SEBI made between 2014 and 2019 that constrained the regulator's ability to investigate, and its probe into alleged violations in money flows from offshore entities has "drawn a blank".
The Adani Group's stocks had been bludgeoned on the bourses after Hindenburg Research made a litany of allegations, including those about fraudulent transactions and share-price manipulation, against the business conglomerate.
The Adani Group dismissed the charges as lies, saying it complies with all laws and disclosure requirements.
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2nd phase of Bengal poll: 39.97 per cent polling till 11 am amid sporadic violence
Kolkata (PTI): Nearly 40 per cent of the 3.21 crore electors voted till 11 am of the second phase of polling in West Bengal amid sporadic violence, while tension gripped the Bhabanipur seat briefly as Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Suvendu Adhikari took swipes at one another in the same booth area.
Voters queued up from 7 am outside booths in Kolkata, Howrah, Hooghly, Nadia, North and South 24 Parganas and Purba Bardhaman districts, which form Bengal's electoral and political core.
Of the total electorate eligible to vote in this phase, 1.57 crore are women, and 792 are third-gender.
Till 11 am, West Bengal recorded 39.97 per cent polling with Purba Bardhaman registering the highest turnout at 44.50 per cent, followed by Hooghly at 43.12 per cent and Nadia at 40.34 per cent.
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Howrah recorded 39.45 per cent polling, while North 24 Parganas registered 38.43 per cent. Kolkata North and Kolkata South recorded 38.39 per cent and 36.78 per cent turnout, respectively.
South 24 Parganas, a politically crucial district witnessing several high-profile contests, recorded 37.9 per cent voting.
The first phase of polls in 152 Assembly seats of West Bengal on April 23 also recorded more than 41 per cent polling till 11 am.
"Polling is underway peacefully, barring some minor incidents in certain areas. We have sought reports from the officials concerned," a poll panel official said.
The early-morning convergence of Banerjee and Adhikari at the same booth area in Chakraberia turned Bhabanipur -- the chief minister's electoral bastion -- into the centrepiece of the day, reinforcing the symbolic weight of their prestige battle seen as a rematch of Nandigram, where the BJP leader had defeated her in 2021.
Banerjee was already seated outside the booth after receiving complaints of alleged intimidation of local TMC leaders when Adhikari arrived there amid heavy deployment of central forces.
Stepping out of his car, Adhikari declared, "I will not allow any hooliganism", while Banerjee accused the BJP of trying to "rig" the election using central forces, police observers and election officials.
"BJP wants to rig this election. Polls in Bengal are usually peaceful. Is there goonda raj here?" Banerjee told reporters, alleging CRPF personnel had visited the homes of TMC leaders late Tuesday night and unleashed terror in the area.
She alleged that election observers were acting at the BJP's behest and claimed TMC workers were being selectively targeted across districts.
Adhikari dismissed the charges as signs of "frustration", claiming Banerjee had realised that "not a single vote" was coming her way.
Banerjee, who usually steps out of her Kalighat residence late in the day to cast her vote at Mitra Institution School, broke convention and hit the ground before 8 am, moving through Chetla, Padmapukur and Chakraberia, underlining the stakes attached to Bhabanipur and the wider battle for south Bengal.
Reports of violence, vandalism and tension surfaced from several districts.
In Nadia district's Chapra, a BJP polling agent was allegedly assaulted inside a booth during a mock poll. The BJP accused TMC supporters of attacking its agent, while the ruling party denied the charge. In Shantipur, a BJP camp office was found vandalised.
In South 24 Pargana's Bhangar, the ISF alleged that its polling agents were prevented from entering booths.
Howrah's Bally constituency saw tension at a booth in Liluah after an EVM malfunction delayed voting, prompting central forces to lathi-charge agitated voters. Two people were arrested in the matter.
Police and RAF personnel were also seen chasing away crowds near a booth in Amdanga following complaints of unlawful gathering by bike-borne supporters.
In Panihati, BJP candidate Ratna Debnath, the mother of the RG Kar victim, faced protests and her car was allegedly stopped by TMC workers, while in Jagaddal, the recovery of a firearm near a polling booth triggered tension before police and central forces restored order.
BJP candidate from Basanti assembly constituency in South 24 Parganas, Bikash Sardar, on Wednesday, alleged that "200-250 TMC goons" attacked his car and assaulted his driver when he was visiting polling booths in the constituency.
The TMC did not immediately respond to the allegations.
Unlike the first phase, where the BJP sought to defend its north Bengal gains, the final round has shifted the battle squarely to the TMC's strongest belt.
In 2021, the ruling party had won 123 of these 142 seats, leaving just 18 for the BJP and one for the ISF. For the BJP, breaching this southern fortress remains critical if it hopes to mount a serious challenge for power in the state.
