Thane | Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole on Friday alleged that the Adani group has invested Rs 20,000 crore through shell companies and asked if Prime Minister Narendra Modi will show “courage” to probe it.

He was speaking to reporters here after taking part in a demonstration against the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Centre.

Patole said the Modi government has in the past nine years made “arrangements for his friends to grab public money”. The senior Congress leader said several government contracts have been given to companies of businessman Gautam Adani.

Patole claimed that the Adani group has invested Rs 20,000 crore through shell companies. “Where did this money come from? The same question has also been raised by Rahul Gandhi. Will Prime Minister Narendra Modi show the courage to inquire into this?” he asked.

The Congress has been demanding a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe after US short-seller Hindenberg Research in January accused the Adani Group firms of “brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud” and using a number of offshore shell companies to inflate stock prices. Adani Group has rejected the allegations.

The Congress has stepped up its attack on the Centre after Rahul Gandhi was disqualifed as a Lok Sabha member following his conviction by a Surat court in a 2019 criminal defamation case.

Thane city District Congress president Vikrant Chavan was among those who took part in the demonstration.