The crisis engulfing beleaguered Indian conglomerate Adani Group is spilling into politics, with hundreds of members of India’s opposition parties taking to the streets to demand a probe into fraud claims that are weighing on the broader Indian market. Adani has lost about US$115bn from its listed entities, representing well over half its value, in a fortnight of heavy selling sparked by allegations by US investor Hindenburg Research that the conglomerate is engaged in a “brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud scheme”. Adani, a ports-to-power conglomerate that owns the Carmichael coal and rail project in Queensland, has denied the allegations in a detailed 413-page response. It won a rare reprieve from the stock rout on Tuesday after it repaid more than US$1.1bn in loans earlier than expected, easing some concerns over its debt load. Share prices of several of the group’s entities, including its flagship Adani Enterprises, rose in early trading in Mumbai on Tuesday, although overall losses are steep. The conglomerate is also due to report what will be closely watched financial results. Now in its third week, the Adani crisis threatens to escalate further after both houses of India’s parliament adjourned on Monday for a third consecutive sitting day amid demands for the matter to be debated in parliament and a supreme court inquiry into the allegations. The prime minister, Narendra Modi, is seen as close to the conglomerate’s chairman, Gautam Adani, and his government has been accused of protecting the Adani Group from scrutiny. “It is clear that the Modi government is running away,” Jairam Ramesh, the general secretary of the opposition Congress party, said. Opposition members have protested across the country this week, including outside several offices of a state-owned insurer and bank, both of which have exposure to Adani group companies. On Monday, over 200 members of the Congress party were detained for staging protests in Assam. Mark Humphery-Jenner, an associate professor of finance at the University of New South Wales, said while the decision by Adani to make early loan repayments assuages some concerns, investors remain sceptical of its worth. “It does seem like the market isn’t really believing what Adani is trying to say,” Humphery-Jenner said. “The market doesn’t believe that Adani is worth anywhere near what it was, or potentially what it is currently trading at.” Along with the stock selloff, bonds issued by Adani companies are trading at distressed levels amid fear that it might not meet loan obligations. “Adani is being treated as a financial pariah at the moment,” Humphery-Jenner said. The plunging share prices and recent decision to abandon a share sale raises questions over where Adani will turn to raise capital and whether it will need to sell assets. Adani has said it has an “impeccable track record” of servicing its debt. The wealth of the company’s billionaire chairman has slid alongside the value of his companies. After sitting alongside Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates among the world’s richest just a couple of weeks ago, Adani has dropped out of the top 20, according to the Bloomberg billionaires index.