‘Will PM order probe of his friend Adani?’

The Congress on Sunday stepped up its attack on the Centre over allegations against the Adani group alleging that the Modi governmentrsquos ldquoloud silencerdquo over the issue ldquosmacks of collusionrdquoAdani Grouprsquos stocks have taken a beating on the bourses after USbased activist shortseller Hindenburg Research made a litany of allegations including fraudulent transactions and share price manipulation at the Gautam Adaniled conglomerateRamesh said that in a response to the Panama Papers exposeacute on April 4 2016 the Ministry of Finance had announced that Modi had personally directed a multiagency investigative group to monitor financial flows to and from offshore tax havensPrime Minister Narendra Modi PicsANIPosing questions Ramesh said Vinod Adani the brother of Gautam Adani was named in the Panama Papers and the Pandora Papers as someone who operates offshore entities in the Bahamas and the British Virgin IslandsldquoHe is alleged to have engaged in lsquobrazen stock manipulationrsquo and lsquoaccounting fraudrsquo via lsquoa vast labyrinth of offshore shell entitiesrsquo You have spoken often about your sincerity and lsquoniyatrsquo intention in fighting corruption and even subjected the nation to the heavy costs of demonetisationrdquo Ramesh saidldquoWhat does the fact that a business entity you are well acquainted with faces serious allegations tell us about the quality and sincerity of your investigationsrdquo he askedAlso Read Adanirsquos FPO pullout has not impacted Indiarsquos image FMRamesh alleged that over the years PM Modi ldquomisusedrdquo agencies like the Enforcement Directorate Central Bureau of Investigation and the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence to ldquointimidaterdquo his political opponents and to ldquopunishrdquo business houses that do not fall in line with his ldquocroniesrsquo financial interestsrdquoWhat action has been taken if ever to investigate the serious allegations made over the years against the Adani Group he asked Ramesh also asked if there was any hope of a fair and impartial investigation in the matter under the PMldquoWas the Adani Group essential to a dispensation that has profited from lsquoanticorruptionrsquo rhetoric all of these yearsrdquo Ramesh askedTagging his statement he tweeted ldquoThe eloquent silence of the PM on the Adani MahaMegaScam has forced us to start a series HAHKHum Adani ke Hain Kaun We will be posing 3 questions to the PM daily beginning todayrdquo He asked the PM to break his ldquosilencerdquo over the issueThe Congress party also started a Twitter poll on asking people whether the PM will get the allegations of fraud against ldquohis friend Adanirdquo investigatedAdani issue a company matter FMFinance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said that regulators Sebi and RBI should always be on their toes to keep the equity market stable and indicated that the Adani stock rout following a Hindenburg report was a company specific issue ldquoYes there have been occasional blips in the market maybe small or big but they do address issues like that And I strongly believe that our regulators are seized of this matterrdquo Sitharaman said in an interview to Times NowThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever