Kappan Free on Bail after 28 months Kerala journalist Siddique Kappan with his wife Raihana and son Muzammil after his release on bail from the Lucknow jail on Thursday. He was arrested 28 months ago while travelling to Hathras in UP where a Dalit woman died allegedly after being raped. “I am out after a lot of fight. I am happy,” he said | PTI tadepalligudem l friday l february 3, 2023 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l city EDITION CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA ■ BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOgGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI Adani group under glare of banking, market regulators Exposure of banks and trading transactions in the listed space under scanner; shares of flagship firm’s under surveillance; govt isn’t too worried as of now Oppn stalls Parliament, demands JPC or top court-monitored probe SAC H I N K U M A R @ Mumbai A day after Adani group was forced to withdraw its `20,000-crore follow-on public offering (FPO) of its flagship firm Adani Enterprises, banking and stockmarket regulators took note of allegations of irregularities against the conglomerate, while the National Stock Exchange (NSE) put group firms’ shares under surveillance. On Thursday, the Reserve Bank of India directed banks to provide details of their loans to Adani firms, the collateral used for these loans and any other indirect exposure. “The central bank wants to measure the total exposure of banks to the Adani group and if there is any risk to the banking sector,” said a senior official with a public-sector bank. One of RBI’s main concerns is that the firms take loans by pledging their shares, which pose risk to the lenders as a sharp fall in stock price could lower the value of shares. In all, the listed firms of the Adani group have lost as much as `8.76 lakh crore in market capitalisation in just six trading sessions. The finance ministry has not sounded any alarm yet. A source in the North Block said that as long as the exposure of financial institutions is not high, the ministry will not be worried. The Securities and Exchange Board of India is also looking into the allegations. It is scanning all the transactions done by the group companies in the listed space. It is also checking whether the group failed to make any relevant disclosure required as per the regulations. Meanwhile, the NSE on Thursday placed Adani Enterprises, Adani Ports and Ambuja Cements under the Additional Surveillance Mechanism framework, which will require 100% margin to trade in their shares. The ASM framework aims to protect retail investors from the sharp swings in the shares. The move is also expected to reduce speculation and short selling. PR E E T H A N A IR @ New Delhi For me, the interest of my investors is paramount and everything is secondary. Hence to insulate the investors from potential losses, we have withdrawn the FPO Gautam Adani Collateral damage Investment banking firm Citigroup said on Thursday that it has stopped accepting Adani group securities as collateral for giving out margin loans. Earlier, Credit Suisse’s lending arm had assigned zero lending value to bonds issued by Adani firms BOTH Houses of Parliament on Thursday witnessed noisy scenes as the Opposition stalled proceedings demanding a Joint Parliament Committee (JPC) or a Supreme Court-monitored investigation into allegations of fraud and stock manipulation by Adani group. As soon as the session began, Opposition parties led by Congress raised slogans and demanded a discussion into the exposure of LIC and SBI to the Adani Group. Though several members gave adjournment notices under Rule 267, the presiding officers of both the Houses declined to accept the demand saying it was not in order. Both the Houses were adjourned later. Addressing a joint press conference by Opposition parties, Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge said there should be day-to-day reporting of the findings of the probe into investments by LIC and public sector banks, in which crores of Indians have put their life-time savings. Earlier in the day, leaders of several opposition parties including the Congress, DMK, TMC, SP, JD(U), Shiv Sena, CPI(M), CPI, NCP, IUML, NC, AAP and Kerala Congress had met in the Parliament complex to chalk out a joint strategy to corner the government on the Adani row. DMK MP Kanimozhi said: “We trust LIC and public banks because we believe the government stands behind it. Today we feel cheated.” Echoing similar views, Shiv Sena’s Priyanka Chaturvedi called for a discussion on why Adani was forced to withdraw its FPO. Kejri figures in second ED chargesheet in excise scam A M I T M U K H E R J E E @ New Delhi Revealing Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s involvement in the excise scam for the first time, the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) in its second chargesheet claimed the CM had asked accused Sameer Mahendru to work with his close confidant Vijay Nair while formulating the new liquor policy . The chargesheet filed before a Special ED Court said Kejriwal had in a video call to Mahendru, the managing director of Indo Spirit, said Nair was his (CM’s) boy . “These facts are relevant to mention so as to establish the abetment of his (Kejriwal) actions in relation to the Excise policy scam by the political leaders of AAP,” the chargesheet said. “Vijay Nair who orchestrated this entire scam is not an ordinary worker of the AAP but a close associate of CM Arvind Kejriwal and was closely interacting with Dy CM for the Excise Policy related matters,” it added. “Nair, on behalf of leaders of AAP has received kickbacks to the tune of `100 jagan CALLS FOR QUALITY EDN crore from the South Group, whose prominent persons are M S Reddy, Raghav, Magunta, Sharath Reddy and M Kavitha,” it alleged. The chargesheet went on to claim that part of the `100 crore was used in the AAP’s Goa poll campaign in 2022. “Cash payments to the tune of `70 lakh were made to volunteers who were part of the survey teams,” it alleged. “In order to create a continuous payment of kickback to Nair, an unheard margin of 12% was provided to private wholesalers contrary to the recommendations of the Expert Committee headed by Excise Commissioner Ravi Dhawan,” the ED said. In the second chargesheet, the ED named 12 accused, including five – Sharath C Reddy, Binoy Babu, Nair, Boinpally and Amit Arora — who are already in judicial custody Seven private entities, pri. marily into liquor trade have also been mentioned as accused — Trident Chemphar, Sri Avantika Contractors (I), Organomix Ecosystems, Pernod Ricard India, KSJM Spirits, Buddy Retail (TI) and Popular Spirits. Fiction, says CM Rejecting the allegations against him, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said the second chargesheet was a complete fiction. He claimed the Central government is misusing ED with a malafide intention to topple his government 17 named as accused The second chargesheet runs into more than 13,000 pages. In all, 17 accused have been named in the two chargesheets. The court issued summons to the accused in both chargesheets, directing them to appear on February 23 Reviewing the education sector with senior officials on Thursday, CM Jagan directed them to focus on installing Interactive Flat Panel in classrooms and deliver Vidya Kanuka Kits to all schools by the end of this academic year | P4 YSRC appoints Adala as Nellore rural in-charge E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Nellore The YSRC cracked the whip against its rebel MLA from Nellore Rural constituency Kotam, reddy Sridhar Reddy, by appointing Nellore MP Adala Prabhakar Reddy as the constituency in-charge. This means Adala would be contesting the next elections from Nellore Rural seat. Sridhar Reddy, who openly made it clear that he would join TDP, had made serious allegations against the party prompting the party to take action against him. Senior YSRC leaders said that Reddy’s rebellion was a planned one after he met TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu in December last year. The MLA had alleged that he had proofs that his phone was being tapped at the behest of the party leadership. The war of words between Sridhar Reddy and other YSRC leaders and ministers went on for a couple of days. As the MLA went on making serious allegations, YSRC president and Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy took serious view of it and held consultations with the party regional coordinator Balineni Srinivas Reddy and leaders from district including Adala Prabhakar Reddy and others to appoint a new in-charge for the segment on Thursday . “Adala has been appointed as the in-charge and he would contest Nellore Rural segment in 2024,’’ YSRC general secretary Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy P5 said after the meeting.