In the wake of US short-seller Hindenburg Research's allegations against SEBI chairperson Madhabi Buch, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge said a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) inquiry is imperative to probe this "massive scandal".

He alleged that until a JPC inquiry probes the issue, concerns persist that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will continue to "shield his ally, compromising India's Constitutional institutions, painstakingly built over seven decades".

The Congress said the government must act immediately to eliminate all conflicts of interest in the regulator's investigation of the Adani Group and reiterated its demand for a joint parliamentary committee probe into the matter.

In a post on X, Kharge said, "SEBI had previously cleared Adani, a close associate of PM Modi, before the Supreme Court following the January 2023 Hindenburg Report revelations. However, new allegations have surfaced regarding a quid-pro-quo involving the SEBI chief." The small and medium investors belonging to the middle class who invest their hard-earned money in the stock market need to be protected, as they believe in the SEBI, he said.

A JPC inquiry is imperative to investigate this "massive scandal", Kharge said.

"Until then, concerns persist that PM Modi will continue to shield his ally, compromising India's Constitutional institutions, painstakingly built over seven decades," the Congress chief said.

The Hindenburg Research on Saturday launched a broadside against market regulator SEBI chairperson Madhabi Buch, alleging she and her husband had stakes in obscure offshore funds used in the Adani money siphoning scandal.

In a blog post, Hindenburg said 18 months since its damning report on Adani, "SEBI has shown a surprising lack of interest in Adani's alleged undisclosed web of Mauritius and offshore shell entities." SEBI Chairman Buch and her husband have denied the allegations levelled against them as baseless and asserted that their finances are an open book.

Adani Group on Sunday termed Hindenburg Research's latest allegations as malicious and manipulative of select public information, saying it has no commercial relationship with the SEBI chairperson or her husband.

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