The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Delhi police in India, has recently registered a first information report (FIR) against Ashneer Grover, the former Managing Director and a confounder of fintech unicorn BharatPe. FIR also mentions his wife Madhuri Jain Grover, and their family. The case has been registered based on a complaint by BharatPe for allegedly using company funds in an inappropriate manner and being involved in fraud.
According to BharatPe, the Grover family is accused of making unauthorized payments to fictitious human resource consultants, overpayments to vendors connected with them, and fraudulent input tax credit transactions. Other allegations include the payment of illegal penalties to GST authorities, payments to travel agencies, issuance of fake invoices by Madhuri Jain, and overpricing the recruitment costs. For now, the fintech firm seeks up to ₹88 crores in damages through a civil suit.
According to media reports, the FIR has been filed against family members Deepak Gupta, Suresh Jain, Shwetank Jain, and the Grover couple. This development adds to the troubles between the former BharatPe MD and the fintech major – something that involved the embattled co-founder in multiple controversies and led to the ouster of Ms. Jain and Mr. Grover from the company and its board in March 2022.
For those who missed it, the months prior to the ousting ensured that BharatPe and Grover made headlines multiple times for all the wrong reasons. This included Grover threatening a Kotak Group employee for failing to secure an allotment and funding for the Nykaa IPO for himself and his wife, the revelation of several irregularities after a forensic audit, Madhuri Jain fired by BharatPe over misappropriation of funds, and more.
Now, the FIR has been registered by the Economic Offences Wing under eight sections, according to media reports. The sections include 468 (pertaining to forgery for the purpose of cheating), 120B (pertaining to punishment of criminal conspiracy) and 406 (pertaining to punishment for criminal breach of trust), among others. If Grover and the others are convicted, then they can face up to anything between 10 years to life imprisonment.
For its part, BharatPe noted that it welcomed the registration of the FIR by the EOW. “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,” a spokesperson for BharatPe commented on the matter.
“The registration of the FIR is a step in the right direction which unearths various suspicious transactions made by the family for their personal pecunary 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,” he added.
