BharatPe's FIR against ousted cofounder and MD Ashneer Grover has been registered by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW)
Besides EOW, BharatPe has also filed a civil suit with the Delhi High Court seeking INR 88.67 Cr in damages
Grover is also facing lawsuits from BharatPe cofounders Bhavik Koladiya and Shashvat Nakrani who are looking to claw back their shares in the company
BharatPe’s first information report (FIR) against ousted cofounder and MD Ashneer Grover, his wife Madhuri Jain Grover, and family members, including Deepak Gupta, Suresh Jain, and Shwetank Jain has been registered by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) on Wednesday (May 10), as per documents seen by Inc42.
The fintech unicorn had filed a criminal complaint with the Delhi Police’s EOW against Ashneer Grover and family in December last year, alleging a fraud of INR 81.28 Cr.
The FIR, a copy of which Inc42 has seen, names Grover, Jain Grover and others under eight sections of serious cognizable criminal offences, including Section 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant, or by banker, merchant, or agent), Section 420 (cheating and dishonesty inducing delivery of property), Section 467 (forgery of valuable security, will etc), Section 120B (criminal conspiracy), Section 465 (punishment for forgery), as well as Section 477A (falsification of accounts), among other penal code violations.
The FIR lays out the modus operandi of the alleged fraud, in which the accused persons have been said to have paid commissions to ‘bogus HR consultants’ which were linked to Suresh Jain and Shwetank Jain, as per BharatPe.
In a statement to Inc42, a BharatPe spokesperson said, “For the last 15 months, the company has been facing a vicious and malicious campaign run by Grover against the company, the board and its employees. The registration of the FIR is a step in the right direction which unearths various suspicious transactions made by the family for their personal pecuniary gains. This FIR will now enable the law enforcement agencies to investigate deeper into the criminality and bring the culprits to books. We have full faith in our country’s judicial and law enforcement systems and are optimistic that this case will reach its logical conclusion. We will continue to extend all possible cooperation to the authorities. MZM legal is advising us (BharatPe) on the criminal case.”
Amid allegations of financial irregularities since January 2022 and a public dispute between the BharatPe board, management and Ashneer Grover, the company sacked the latter in March.
Since then a number of legal actions have been initiated against Ashneer Grover and Madhuri Jain Grover. After being sacked by BharatPe, the husband-wife duo floated Third Unicorn Private Limited and have also raised funding for that venture.
BharatPe’s Civil Suit Against Ashneer Grover & Family
Besides the EOW case, BharatPe has also filed a civil suit with the Delhi High Court seeking INR 88.67 Cr in damages from Ashneer Grover, Madhuri Jain Grover and their family. In addition, an arbitration claim was filed in the Singapore International Arbitration Centre to claw back restricted shares (1.4%) allotted to Grover. Here’s a gist of the allegations against Ashneer, Madhuri Jain Grover and others, as per that suit.
- Madhuri Jain Grover allegedly approved payments amounting to INR 72 Cr to 30 third-party vendors that did not provide any real services or goods to the company
- Madhuri alleged to have approved payments totalling INR 7.6 Cr towards third-party HR consultants who were never used for any recruitment
- The Grovers allegedly used a duplex apartment in posh Delhi neighbourhood as their personal residence and expensed it as a company guest house. Nearly INR 52 Lakh paid as rent and security deposit for the house, BharatPe claims
- The tenure of Ashneer Grover is alleged to have seen contracts worth INR 48 Lakh contract being awarded to Madhuri Jain Grover’s interior design company for office renovation and decoration
- The couple is alleged to invoiced the company for family vacations to the UAE and the United States; the Grovers are said to have billed the company twice for one trip to Thailand to two different vendors
The fintech startup has also demanded disclosures relating to assets owned by the Grover couple and other family members. BharatPe also sought a restraining order against the duo from posting any derogatory material against the company on social media. The court had HC issued summons to the Grover family and asked them to respond to the charges.
Besides BharatPe, Grover is also facing lawsuits from BharatPe cofounders Bhavik Koladiya and Shashvat Nakrani for their shares in the company. Both these cases are being heard by the Delhi High Court. In March, Grover was issued a summons by the Delhi High Court in connection to a suit filed by Shashvat Nakrani to claw back his shares.
Featured image: Praveen Bhat | Shot For Fitlook Magazine; Edited
