From meagre beginnings in the 1980s, Gautam Adani has emerged as India’s richest citizen. Now, in just a few days, the foundations of his sprawling empire have been shaken. On January 24th a small New York investment firm, Hindenburg Research, published a report calling the Adani Group “the largest con in corporate history”. In a series of statements, the group responded by saying that the report was “maliciously mischievous”,…