Journalist mentioned in Hindenburg report speaks up about Adani row

Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, the journalist who found prominent mention in the Hindenburg Research report that triggered turmoil in the share prices of the Adani Group and cast international glare on Indian probity in corporate governance, breaks his silence two-and-a-half years after a court in Ahmedabad issued a gag order asking him not to speak or write anything that may go against the interests of the Adani Group.

JoueGuha Thakurta said he was not willing to hazard a guess on the future of the Adani conglomerate and his response to the questions posed by The Telegraph only stated facts.

"I do not want to commit contempt of court. I have only given you facts," Guha Thakurta told The Telegraph on Sunday (5 February).

When asked what piqued his interest in the Adani Group, Guha replied that as a political economy journalist for 45 years, he was fascinated by the rise of the Adani Group and wrote about it as part of his reporting on the corporate sector.

According to him, the manner in which the Adani Group exercises dominance over so many sectors and segments of the Indian economy is truly out of the ordinary.

As the editor of the Economic and Political Weekly (EPW), Guha Thakurta's first exclusive article, according to him, was published in April 2016.

"I wrote several articles in the EPW, including on allegations of misuse of benefits by the cut-and-polished diamond business of the group, about the pricing of power. The last article I wrote for the EPW in June 2017 pertained to the changes in the rules concerning power projects in SEZs (special economic zones).

"It also talked about how the government — the ministry of finance and the ministry of commerce -- were processing an application for a refund of customs duties in excess of Rs 500 crore without first checking whether the duty had been paid. The matter reached Parliament," he added.

After Guha Thakurta's forced resignation from EPW in July 2017, his articles were pulled down.

"The article taken down by the EPW was published by The Wire (the news portal). Several people came out in my support, including Professor Amartya Sen and renowned scholar Noam Chomsky. Afterwards, my articles on the Adani Group by and large appeared in other publications, notably NewsClick. I became a consultant with NewsClick in May 2018," he told The Telegraph.

According to Guha Thakurta, lawyers representing companies headed by Gautam Adani have instituted six defamation cases against him that are currently pending in the courts of law.

"In September 2020, the courts in Ahmedabad issued a gag order on me, my co-author Abir Dasgupta and NewsClick headed by Prabir Purakayastha, that we cannot speak, say or write anything that goes against the interests of Gautam Adani and his conglomerate," he said.

"There was an article which was considered to be defamatory — the contents of the article were not challenged. The headline was deemed to be defamatory.... It was the last of the series of three articles," he added.

Although Guha was never arrested, a non-bailable warrant of arrest was issued against me by a first-class judicial magistrate in Mundra in January 2021 over the article pulled down from the EPW and published by The Wire later.

"In May 2019, before the results of the Lok Sabha elections were announced, the Adani Group withdrew the cases against everybody — The Wire, my three co-authors but I am the only person against whom the case continued."

In the conversation with The Telegraph, Guha Thakurta claimed that he has never collaborated with Hindenburg Research.

"I never heard of it before the report came out. However, the report, which consists of 32,000 words, if printed as a book, can run into 150 pages. It makes several references to the work done by me and independent journalists like Abir Dasgupta whom I collaborated with. But they must have accessed the materials which are in the public domain," he told The Telegraph.

However, this is not the only time he faced legal challenges for his write ups. Other top companies and conglomerates have also sent him legal notices but none of them actually took him to court.

"Legal notices were sent by lawyers representing corporate entities headed by both the Ambani brothers. Subrata Roy of Sahara never took me to court either."

After the Hindenburg Research report came out Guha Thakurta said he feels vindicated now.

In his final remark, Guha Thakurta said, "But if you ask me if I would have done anything differently, I would say 'no', despite all these years of legal fights and its negative impact on me and my life.