A plea was filed in the Supreme Court on Sunday, requesting the inclusion of bribery and fraud charges against Adani Group Chairman Gautam Adani and seven of his associates, as alleged by US prosecutors. The petition follows a recent indictment in a New York court, where Adani, 62, and seven executives, including his nephew Sagar Adani, were charged with orchestrating a $265 million bribery scheme. US prosecutors claim the bribes were paid to secure profitable solar energy contracts in India, which are projected to generate $2 billion in profits over the next 20 years.

In a separate case, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed charges against the Adani Group and Azure Power Global executive Cyril Cabanes for securities fraud. They are accused of making false statements to secure $2 billion in loans and bonds. These charges were unveiled by the US Attorney’s Office last week, highlighting a conspiracy to defraud US investors by raising capital based on false information.

The Adani Group has strongly denied all allegations, calling them “baseless.”

The plea, filed by advocate Vishal Tiwari—who is also a petitioner in the ongoing case related to the Adani-Hindenburg matter—comes amidst the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) investigation into allegations of stock manipulation and market irregularities. These allegations were initially raised in the January 2023 Hindenburg Research report, which accused the Adani Group of “brazen accounting fraud” and “stock manipulation.” The report triggered a $140 billion loss in Adani stocks and led to the cancellation of a planned ₹20,000 crore share sale. The Adani Group dismissed the report as “unresearched” and “maliciously mischievous.”

In January 2024, the Supreme Court had dismissed pleas seeking a special investigation team to probe the Hindenburg allegations.