NEW YORK — An Indian businessman who is one of the world’s richest men has been indicted in the US on charges that he defrauded investors in a massive solar project in his home country by concealing that it was facilitated by the alleged bribery.

Gautam Adani, 62, was charged in an indictment unsealed Wednesday with securities fraud and conspiracy to commit securities and wire fraud.

He is accused of defrauding investors who poured several billion dollars into the project by failing to tell them about more than $250 million in bribes paid to Indian officials to secure lucrative contracts to supply solar power.

Several other people connected to Adani, its businesses and the project have also been charged.

Gautam Adani is a power player in the world’s most populous nation. He built his fortune in the coal industry in the 1990s. His Adani Group has grown to involve many aspects of Indian life, from manufacturing defense equipment to building roads to selling cooking oil.

In recent years, Adani has made big moves in the field of renewable energy.

Last year, a US financial research firm accused his company Adani of “disorderly handling of shares” and “accounting fraud”. Adani Group called the claims “a malicious combination of selective disinformation and outdated, baseless and discredited allegations”.

The firm in question is known as a short seller, a Wall Street term for traders who essentially bet on the prices of certain stocks, and had made such investments in connection with the Adani Group.