Did "outside scenario" prompt SFIO to seek urgent hearing of Adani's petition in Stock Exchange scam? Bombay High Court asks

The Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) on Wednesday requested the Bombay High Court to fix a date for final hearing and disposal of the matter relating to 1999 Bombay stock market scandal case involving senior officials of Adani Enterprises [Adani Enterprises Ltd v. SFIO & Ors].This prompted the High Court to ask the SFIO counsel whether he was seeking such listing only because of the “scenario outside”.The judge was referring to the fallout of a recent report by US-based investment research firm Hindenburg Research against Adani Group as a result of which its stocks suffered losses to the tune ₹65 billion.The petition filed by Adani Enterprises in 2019 has challenged an order of a sessions court dated November 1, 2019 overturning a magistrate’s order which discharged the company and its senior officials from the 1999 Bombay stock market scandal case. It was listed today for hearingAt around 12:30pm, Senior Advocate Amit Desai, appearing for the company, mentioned the petition along with the SFIO counsel to fix a date for final hearing and disposal of the matter. Desai also claimed that he was unaware of the listing of the petition, as Adani had not sought for urgent listing of the matter..At this point, Justice RG Avachat asked the SFIO counsel in a jovial manner if the petition was mentioned for urgent hearing by them considering the scenario outside, to which the SFIO counsel did not respond.When Bar & Bench contacted the SFIO counsel, he said that the petition had been listed on its own, as per the central management system of the High Court..With mutual consent of both lawyers, the writ petition was posted for final hearing on March 18..The sessions court order had overturned an order of a metropolitan magistrate passed in 2014 by which Adani Enterprises Limited (AEL), its Chairman Gautam Adani and Managing Director Rajesh Adani had been discharged in the stock market scandal case of Bombay of 1999-2000. Adani is accused of cheating and manipulating their share prices through entities controlled by Ketan Parekh, the main accused in the scandal. According to the SFIO, the promoters of AEL provided funds and shares to Parekh’s entities for running illegal activities in the capital market. In its order overturning the discharge order, the sessions judge noted that the magistrate had taken cognizance of the chargesheet filed against Adani and its officials. After being convinced of the existence of prima facie material for proceeding against the accused, the magistrate could not have recorded on the same material that a case against the accused does not exist, the sessions judge had remarked in his 2019 order. On a request by Adani’s counsel, the sessions judge had stayed the order on November 20, 2019. This order had been extended by the High Court from time to time.