Former Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan has said that a more detailed response is needed while acknowledging that allegations on someone of Sebi chief Madhabi Puri Buch’s stature could come from anywhere.

“One has to be careful here as anybody can make allegations at any time,” Rajan said in an interview to news agency PTI, while responding to a question on multiple allegations levelled by the US-based short seller Hindenburg Research and the Congress party against Buch.

“But if there is sufficient sort of investigation that has gone into allegations, then it is really important for the regulator to be like ‘Caesar’s wife must be above suspicion’, which means that you have to address the allegations … point by point,” he said.

Pointing out that allegations against the Sebi chief is of conflicts of interest, Rajan said that the more detailed the investigation that has gone into the allegations, the more detailed in a sense, the response has to be point by point.

Hindenburg Research had, in a report, accused Buch of conflicts of interest related to her husband Dhaval Buch's association with Blackstone. As per Hindenburg’s allegations, Dhaval was an advisor to Blackstone at a time when SEBI, under Buch's leadership, had facilitated regulatory changes that specifically benefitted the global private equity firm.

"During Dhaval Buch’s time as an advisor to Blackstone, Sebi has proposed, approved, and facilitated major REIT regulations changes," Hindenburg claimed.

“Ultimately, I think it is important that our regulators be, you know, as credible as possible and that benefits the nation, benefits the markets. It benefits even the regulators themselves,” he told PTI.

Last month, in a joint statement, Buch and her husband Dhaval Buch had denied the allegations of impropriety and conflict of interest levelled by Congress, saying they are false, malicious and motivated.