Gautam Adani meets NCP chief Sharad Pawar amid Oppn's demand for JPC probe

Industrialist Gautam Adani met Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar at the latter's Silver Oak residence in South Mumbai on Thursday for nearly two hours, party sources said.

The meeting came after Pawar's recent statement that he is not opposed to a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into the charges made by Hindenburg Research against the Adani group, but a Supreme Court committee will be more useful and effective.

Taking a position at variance from senior ally Congress, Pawar had said he favoured a Supreme Court committee to probe allegations against the Adani group since the ruling BJP would have a majority in the JPC based on numerical strength in Parliament and this would lead to doubts on such a probe.

The NCP supremo had later said although his outfit does not agree with the demand of anti-BJP parties for a JPC probe into allegations against the Adani group, it will not go against their stand for the sake of Opposition unity.

The Supreme Court had last month ordered the setting up of a six-member committee headed by a former apex court judge to look into various regulatory aspects for stock markets, including the recent Adani group shares crash triggered by Hindenburg Research's fraud allegations.

The Hindenburg Research has made a litany of allegations, including fraudulent transactions and share-price manipulation, against the business conglomerate. The Adani group has dismissed the charges as lies, saying it complies with all laws and disclosure requirements.