Shares of the Adani Group companies, including the flagship Adani Enterprises, tumbled up to 20% on Thursday after Chairman Gautam Adani was indicted in a bribery case by the United States authorities.

In early trade, Adani Energy Solutions plummeted to a 52-week low, declining 20% from the previous day’s closing level. Adani Green Energy also fell sharply, dropping around 18% to hit a day’s low of 1,136.55, down from its previous close of 1,412.70.

Adani Enterprises, the conglomerate’s flagship company, saw a dramatic decline of over 20%, with the stock touching an intraday low of 2,172.50, significantly lower than its previous close of 2,821.50.

Other Adani Group stocks also faced steep losses as Adani Total Gas hit an intraday low of 545.75, down from its previous close of 671.75.

Adani Ports fell to 995.65 during the day, a steep drop from its prior close of 1,289.65. Adani Power and Ambuja Cements declined more than 10% in intraday trade.

The US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York unsealed a five-count criminal indictment against Gautam Adani, Sagar R Adani, and Vneet S. Jaain.

The indictment charged them with conspiracies to commit securities and wire fraud, as well as substantive securities fraud, for their roles in a multi-billion-dollar bribery scheme to obtain funds from US investors and global financial institutions based on false and misleading statements.

The charges also extend to other individuals, including Ranjit Gupta and Rupesh Agarwal, former executives of a renewable-energy company whose securities traded on the New York Stock Exchange, and Cyril Cabanes, Saurabh Agarwal, and Deepak Malhotra, former employees of a Canadian institutional investor.

These individuals are accused of conspiring to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in connection with the alleged bribery scheme.

“As alleged, the defendants orchestrated an elaborate scheme to bribe Indian government officials to secure contracts worth billions of dollars, and Gautam S Adani, Sagar R Adani, and Vneet S Jaain lied about the bribery scheme as they sought to raise capital from US and international investors,” stated United States Attorney Breon Peace.

In response to the indictment, Adani Green Energy Limited issued a statement through an exchange filing:

“The United States Department of Justice and the United States Securities and Exchange Commission have issued a criminal indictment and brought a civil complaint, respectively, in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, against our Board members, Gautam Adani and Sagar Adani. The United States Department of Justice has also included our Board member, Vneet Jaain, in such a criminal indictment. In light of these developments, our subsidiaries have presently decided not to proceed with the proposed USD denominated bond offerings.”