BharatPe Fraud: EOW Summons Ashneer Grover, Madhuri Jain On Nov 21

Delhi Police’s Economic Offences Wing (EOW) has summoned former BharatPe cofounder Ashneer Grover and his wife Madhuri Jain Grover in connection with the alleged fraud at the fintech giant. 

The EOW has directed the couple to appear at its Mandir Marg office in New Delhi on November 21. As per the report, the couple has been directed to join the probe that is being carried out into the alleged INR 81 Cr fraud at BharatPe, PTI reported. 

This comes hours after the husband-wife duo were stopped at the Delhi International Airport over a look-out-circular (LoC) issued against them in connection with the ongoing probe into the alleged BharatPe fraud. 

The Grovers were stopped while they were travelling to New York and were then directed to return to their residence in Delhi and join the EOW’s probe. 

As the row erupted, Grover took to X, formerly Twitter, to claim that he had not received ‘any communication or summon’ from EOW till the wee hours of November 17 even as the FIR in the matter was registered in May. Subsequently, he confirmed that the EOW summon was eventually sent to him later in the day. 

“I found it strange as (I) have travelled 4 times internationally since (the) FIR filed in May – never been a problem and I had not even been summoned once,” he tweeted. 

Grover even took potshots at journalists and other investors online, defending himself against allegations of multiple frauds pertaining to him. 

At the heart of the BharatPe saga is Grover, cofounder and former managing director, and his wife Madhuri Jain Grover, ex-head of controls at the fintech giant. While Grover resigned unceremoniously, Jain claimed that she was forced to resign by the company board. 

Amid a public tussle between the Grovers and the board, the fintech unicorn had filed a criminal complaint with the Delhi Police’s EOW against the couple and their family members in December last year. Eventually, the EOW finally registered the first information report (FIR) in the matter against the Grovers in May this year.

As per content of the FIR, the couple is being probed for alleged fictitious bank transfers to the tune of INR 56 Cr between 2019 and 2022 with the total quantum of the alleged fraud pegged at INR 81 Cr. 

The FIR states that the couple paid commissions to ‘bogus HR consultants’ linked to Jain Grover’s extended family members, including her father Suresh Jain and brother Shwetank Jain. It also alleges that the duo even embezzled more than INR 73 Cr via fictitious transactions and GST penalties. 

The report has been filed under Section 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant, or by banker, merchant, or agent), Section 467 (forgery of valuable security, will), Section 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), among others of the IPC.