Two days after Securities and Exchange Board of India chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch skipped a meeting of Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee, the Congress on Saturday accused the Centre of trying to protect her to “save the bigger players in this nexus”.

On Thursday, Buch was to be questioned about the conflict of interest allegations levelled against her in August in connection with alleged financial misconduct by the Adani Group. However, she did not attend the meeting, citing personal exigencies.

Pawan Khera, the chief of the Congress’ media and publicity wing, on Saturday questioned why the SEBI chief was “reluctant to answer questions” before Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee.

“Who is behind the plan to protect her from being answerable to the PAC?” Khera asked. “Is there a well-thought-out conspiracy to risk the hard-earned investments of crores of small-medium investors and benefit Modi ji's dear friend [industrialist Gautam] Adani?”

In August, American investment firm Hindenburg Research alleged that the SEBI chief and her husband Dhaval Buch had “hidden stakes” in offshore entities tied to stock price manipulation and money laundering by the Adani Group.

Madhabi and Dhaval Buch denied the allegations.

This came 18 months after Hindenburg Research accused the Adani Group of engaging in accounting fraud and money laundering using offshore tax havens. The market regulator, led by Madhabi Buch, had “drawn a blank” in its investigation of these allegations last year and told a Supreme Court-appointed panel that further enquiry could be a “journey without a destination”.

Khera on Saturday said that these “grave revelations” shook the trust of the country’s 11.5 crore registered investors, who counted on the market regulator to uphold a transparent and fair financial environment.

“This government has left India's investors vulnerable, compromising the very institution meant to safeguard their life savings and aspirations,” the Congress leader said. “It was deeply troubling that SEBI's leadership, which publicly champions measures to boost transparency in the investment sector, has failed to adhere to these very standards within their own practices.”

Later in the day, Congress MP and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi shared a video on social media that showed him advising Khera to make the party’s communications about the matter transparent.

Gandhi said that the party would soon make revelations on an alleged syndicate that was trying to protect Buch. He alleged that this syndicate was saving her from answering questions before the Public Accounts Committee, from resigning as the chief of SEBI and from an investigation into her alleged irregularities in dealing with the Adani Group.

Also read: Did SEBI chief disclose stakes in Adani-linked funds to Supreme Court panel?