Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar on Saturday said allegations of fraud against companies owned by billionaire Gautam Adani “should be looked into.”
Kumar made the statement while replying to queries from journalists in Kishanganj district, which he visited as part of his state-wide “Samadhan Yatra”.
Also Read: Explainer: Adani vs Hindenburg- All you need to know about the story so far
“Yes, I have heard about it. His (Adani’s) business model has been called into question. Now that things have come to light, the matter should be looked into (haan kuchh sune hain, dekh rahe hain, uske kaam ka kuchh khas matlab nahin hai. Ab to aa hi gaya sab kuchh Prakash mein to isko dekhna chahiye)”, said the Bihar chief minister.
Nitish Kumar, who snapped ties with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) about six months ago, has joined the opposition parties in demanding a joint parliamentary probe into the matter.
The opposition leaders earlier this week on Thursday demanded a discussion on the Hindenburg report against Adani Enterprises while also seeking the constitution of a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) into the alleged aberrations after Hindenburg Research criticised the Indian conglomerate in a Jan. 24 report ahead of the Adani Enterprises share sale, setting off an $86 billion rout in the group’s domestically listed stocks.
Also Read: Hindenburg defends report on Adani Group, says any action will be ‘meritless’
The investment research firm in its report alleged that Adani Group engaged in brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud over the course of decades.
The Adani group has maintained that the damning report of US-based Hindenburg Research was “malicious”.
It has called the report baseless and termed the allegations “unsubstantiated speculations”.
