Walking into a minefield

MADHABI PURI BUCH won't forget 2024 in a hurry. In an interview to a business magazine at the beginning of the year, she had proudly proclaimed that she knew exactly "where all the skeletons are hidden." Just about six months after that statement, the world turned upside down for the first woman chairperson of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), with many questioning whether the so-called "skeletons" were actually hidden in her cupboard.

- JOYDEEP GHOSH

Most of the questions raised about her integrity are still mere allegations as they have not yet been proven but her position as a markets regulator who would often talk to the regulated about the virtues of governance and proper disclosure has become uncomfortable. That the high-profile Buch is feeling the pressure is evident from her relatively fewer appearances in public forums after the allegations started flying thick and fast, even though the government seems to be backing her. Not even her worst detractors would describe her as media-shy; yet, she has started avoiding direct media interactions and didn't hold the post-board meet presser since October —a rare deviation.

It all started going awry from August this year when US-based short seller Hindenburg Research accused Buch and her husband of complicity with the Adani Group, pointing out that the couple used the "exact same funds used by Vinod Adani, brother of Gautam Adani, to invest — which it interpreted as a key reason for Sebi's inaction against the group. The Congress caught on to the allegations and made several of their own, many bordering on being ridiculous, but it nevertheless kept the pot boiling and continues to do so. The Buch couple has vehemently denied all the charges.