Hindenburg report on Adani: Who are the petitioners before Supreme Court and what are their prayers?

US based Hindeburg Research's report on Indian conglomerate, Adani Group has ruffled many a feather.And as in the past when a high profile controversy has come to fore, the Supreme Court of India is examining this one too. .There are at least three petitions filed before the apex court as on date relating to the issue. They have been filed by advocate ML Sharma, advocate Vishal Tiwari and Congress leader Jaya Thakur. While two of the pleas have already been heard, the third, filed by Congress leader Jaya Thakur, will also be heard as part of the batch on February 17, Friday.While hearing the pleas by Sharma and Tiwari earlier this week, a Bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justices PS Narasimha and JB Pardiwala was told by the SEBI that the regulatory body is completely equipped to deal with the fallout of the Hindenburg Research report on the Adani Group of companies.SEBI also informed the Court that the Central government has no objection to the constitution of a committee to examine related issues, provided that the SEBI's expertise is not undermined in the process.Below are the grounds and prayers raised by the three petitioners. .Advocate ML Sharma.Sharma was the first person to move the Court on the issue.Sharma in his petition has sought directions to Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and the Union Home Ministry to conduct an enquiry and register a First Information Report (FIR) against founder of Hindenburg Research, Nathan Anderson, and his associates in India for its recent report.Sharma has alleged that Anderson and his associates in India hatched a criminal conspiracy by short-selling Adani stocks in hundreds of billion dollars before 'concocting' their report so as to crash the stock market to their benefit.Sharma has also sought recovery of Anderson's alleged turnover with penalty to compensate investors in the interest of justice. Further, a prayer is made for a declaration that short selling is an offence of fraud against investors to be prosecuted under section 420 of IPC read with section 15HA (penalty for fraudulent and unfair trade practices) of the SEBI Act.Pertinently, an application has been filed by Sharma along with the petition seeking a gag order to halt media reports concerning listed companies, unless the same are first vetted by the SEBI..Congress leader Jaya Thakur.The petition by Thakur has, apart from seeking prosecution of the Adani group of companies, questioned the decision of the State Bank of India (SBI) and the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) to invest in the company's shares at an allegedly inflated prices.Thakur has impleaded the the Union of India, the Union Home Ministry, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the Directorate of Enforcement (ED), the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO), the LIC and the SBI, apart from the Adani group.The petitioner has urged the Court to direct a probe under the supervision of a sitting Supreme Court judge.In the alternative, she has called on the Court to direct these agencies to probe the role of the SBI and the LIC in investing huge amounts of public money during the Adani Enterprises FPO at ₹ 3,200 per share..Vishal Tiwari.The plea by the advocate has sought an enquiry against the Adani Group by a committee headed by a retired Supreme Court judge.He has also sought setting up of a special committee to oversee a sanctioning policy for loans of more than ₹500 crore. The plea has stressed the drastic conditions and fate of people when shares lose value in the securities market.Further, the crash in Adani stocks has impacted the portfolios of state-owned and private lenders with an exposure to the group, fuelling the fall in the Nifty and Sensex to three-month lows, Tiwari has highlighted. It has been alleged that there has been no concrete step or action from the Central government, the SBI and the SEBI despite such a massive attack being perpetrated on the economic system of the country that left investors with no redressal mechanism. .Adani crisis: Who are the legal advisors navigating the conglomerate through troubled waters?