Indian Court Rejects Request for New Inquiry Against Billionaire Gautam Adani

India's Supreme Court has dismissed pleas to establish a new committee to investigate fraud allegations made by a US firm against billionaire Gautam Adani's companies. In January, Hindenburg Research accused Adani's firm of stock manipulation and accounting fraud. The court had set up a committee in March to oversee an investigation by India's market regulator, but the panel reported in May that the regulator had made no progress. The Supreme Court has now directed the regulator to complete its investigation within three months. Adani, who has denied any wrongdoing, expressed relief at the court's ruling. Critics had claimed that the market watchdog was not carrying out a proper investigation and that there was a conflict of interest among some members of the court-appointed panel. However, the Chief Justice rejected these arguments and stated that there was no justification for transferring the investigation to a special team. Hindenburg's report had alleged that Adani was involved in corporate fraud, questioned the ownership of the Adani Group's offshore companies, and claimed that the group was heavily in debt. These allegations caused a sharp decline in the market value of Adani's companies, but their stocks have since rebounded. Adani, one of the world's wealthiest individuals, has faced accusations of benefiting from his political connections, but both he and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's party have denied these claims.