Indian SC to hear petition against Hindenburg tomorrow

India's Supreme Court will tomorrow hear a petition seeking a direction to the government to set up a committee monitored by a retired apex court judge to investigate the report by US short seller Hindenburg Research, which accused the Gautam Adani-led business conglomerate of stock manipulation and accounting fraud.

Advocate Vishal Tiwari, who filed the petition, mentioned the matter for urgent listing before a bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud today, reports our New Delhi correspondent.

Tiwari told the bench, which also consists of Justices PS Narasimha and JB Pardiwala, that a separate plea filed on the issue was listed for hearing on February 10.

Asked by the chief justice what his petition was about, Tiwari said, "A similar petition is also coming tomorrow. This pertains to the Hindenburg report which has tarnished the image of the country and caused loss. This may be also heard tomorrow with the other matter."

The chief justice agreed to the request and directed the latest PIL be tagged with another one, which is listed for February 10.

The other petition in question was filed by lawyer ML Sharma and it seeks to declare "short-selling" as the offence of fraud. The petition also seeks investigation against Nathan Anderson, the founder of Hindenburg, "for exploiting innocent investors via short selling under the garb of artificial crashing".

Since the Hindenburg Research report in late January, shares of the Adani group plummeted in stock markets.