From Shark Tank To INR 81 Cr BharatPe Fraud Probe: What’s In Store For Ashneer Grover Now?

Now that BharatPe’s criminal complaint against former cofounder and MD Ashneer Grover, his wife Madhuri Jain Grover, and family members has been registered as an FIR by the Delhi Police’s Economic Offences Wing (EOW), the focus turns to what happens to the ousted founder and others named in the criminal complaint.

As per sources close to the company and the criminal case, the EOW has concluded that the prima facie charges levelled by BharatPe appear to be true. We were also told that further questioning of Ashneer, Madhuri and others would be conducted in the next few weeks. These details have not been corroborated by the EOW.

The FIR was originally filed by BharatPe in December 2022 and alleges a fraud to the tune of INR 81.2 Cr against Ashneer Grover and family. Besides the husband and wife duo, the FIR names Deepak Gupta, Suresh Jain, and Shwetank Jain. Suresh is Madhuri’s father while Shwetank is her brother.

The EOW has accepted the complaint after nearly five months of inquiries into its legitimacy. However, this simply means the authorities are all set to question Ashneer Grover over the next few weeks.

Even though the results of this investigation will likely take months, the FIR certainly has dented Ashneer Grover and Madhuri Jain Grover’s image revamp and stardom. But just how severe are these charges and what does EOW’s involvement mean for the Grovers?

How EOW’s Involvement Changes Things

As per its website, the Delhi Police’s EOW was created to tackle “white collar crimes perpetrated by highly committed criminals involving interstate/international ramifications. Involvement of skilled professionals and organised racketeers and the use of advanced technologies in committing white collar crimes required similar degree of skill and professionalism among investigators.”

In other words, this is a specialised division within the Delhi Police and has jurisdiction over the entire National Capital Territory including Gurugram and Noida.

Further, the EOW is only permitted to be involved, investigate and enquire into complaints and FIRs which are allotted to the agency by the Home Department of the state. This indicates that the registration of the FIR has the Delhi government sanction.

Incidentally, we were informed by legal experts that the Economic Offences Wing has the power to arrest or hold individuals suspected of fraud for questioning. This is largely because the EOW investigates crimes that are financial in nature and therefore the accused individuals have the resources to exit the country.

In other words, individuals in EOW cases are typically considered ‘flight risks’ unless courts designate them otherwise.

Inc42 has seen copies of the ‘Golden Card’ visa issued to Ashneer Grover as well as Madhuri Jain Grover by the United Arab Emirates. Both these permits are set to expire in September 2031.

High-profile individuals currently being investigated for financial crimes world over are said to have considered the Dubai route to escape prosecution. Notably, failed crypto exchange FTX founder and CEO Sam Bankman-Fried was reportedly said to be planning a Dubai escape to evade law enforcement in the US.

A cursory Google search shows just how many such cases are being dealt with by EOWs in various Indian states, with the accused said to have escaped to the UAE before authorities could nab them. Given the ‘Golden Card’ visa of the UAE and other similar quasi-resident permits across the world, investigators are keen to block the movement of individuals accused in large-scale financial crimes, as per legal experts.

What Penalty Could Ashneer Grover Face?

The FIR, a copy of which Inc42 has seen, names Ashneer Grover, wife Madhuri Jain Grover and others under eight sections of serious cognizable criminal offences.

The EOW’s directions to investigative offices, appended at the end of the FIR, clearly state that from the contents of the complaint and enquiry conducted so far, prima-facie the offences are punishable under Sections 406, 408, 409, 420, 467, 468, 471 and 120B.

It must also be noted that none of these charges are non-bailable offences, but that will be a matter for the court to hear in case there is an arrest warrant from this FIR.

In response to the FIR being registered, Ashneer Grover alleged that it couldn’t be a coincidence that the EOW filed an FIR against him at 6 pm on May 10, hours after a judge reserved the court’s order on another case. “I have gone to the Economic Offences Wing office many times and I have always gone there without a lawyer. I have always given them all the information they have asked for. This is because I am an honest person and so I am not scared,” he told a publication.

The ousted MD added, “BharatPe is not a company anymore, it’s a $3 billion write-off… whose value has been destroyed by Rajnish Kumar. I have said earlier also that hiring him was my mistake. The company has seen zero growth in any metrics since I left BharatPe. Everyone is leaving from there. You should ask them why chief executive officer Suhail Sameer left.”

For context, unlike a civil complaint, a criminal complaint will either find the defendant innocent or guilty and therefore the verdict is less ambiguous than in many civil cases. The penalty for being found guilty is usually a prison sentence or in some cases a suspended sentence and/or monetary fine.

Legal experts that Inc42 spoke to say that if found guilty, individuals could potentially be sentenced to 10 years in prison or even life imprisonment, depending on the severity of the charges that are proven, and which sections are applied.

BharatPe has also filed a civil complaint in December 2022 against the Grovers in the Delhi HC in addition to the criminal complaint. Many of the details in the FIR were also seen in this civil complaint.

Charges Against Ashneer Grover & Co

EOW’s 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.

Besides this, the husband-wife duo were said to have approved invoices with inflated prices for certain materials, via ‘Passthrough Vendors’ associated with Deepak Gupta.

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. She is also alleged to have approved payments totalling INR 7.6 Cr towards the aforementioned ‘Bogus HR consultants’.

Further, 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 was paid as rent and security deposit for the house, BharatPe claimed in the FIR.

The tenure of Ashneer Grover is alleged to have seen contracts worth INR 48 Lakh being awarded to Madhuri Jain Grover’s interior design company for office renovation and decoration. At the time, Jain Grover was the head of controls at the company, and is said to have been in charge of all financial approvals as per the FIR.

The couple is alleged to have invoiced the company for family vacations to the UAE and the United States and is said to have billed the company twice for one trip to Thailand to two different vendors.

Life After BharatPe: Startup & Stardom 

Of course, post BharatPe, the couple have launched a new venture named Third Unicorn Private Limited, which operates fantasy gaming app CrickPe.

Launched in January 2023, Third Unicorn has been backed by celebrities such as musician Badshah as well as food giant Haldiram’s family office and early stage fund Venture Catalysts. It remains to be seen whether the FIR in a criminal complaint will impact Third Unicorn’s business and therefore the investment in this company.

Even though the final verdict will take months, there’s little doubt that the FIR will taint the carefully manicured PR image that Ashneer Grover and his wife Madhuri Jain Grover have cultivated in the past year.

From YouTube videos celebrating their home in South Delhi to public appearances at B-schools and even cameos on webseries and glamorous photo shoots — the duo have tried it all to distance themselves from the BharatPe saga.

Then there’s Grover’s book Doglapan and his appearance on Shark Tank that brought the entrepreneur hordes of fans. Despite being labelled as a brash founder by many in the startup ecosystem, one cannot deny that Grover’s image has grown quite tall even as the BharatPe controversy has boiled over.

Will the FIR and the potential consequences wipe off Ashneer Grover’s celebrity status?