Former BharatPe managing director Ashneer Grover has paid 7.1 crore as advance tax for the assessment year 2022-23, persons in the know told FE on Wednesday. Grover’s wife Madhuri Jain has paid1.1 crore by way of advance tax, they added. This makes Grover one of the highest taxpayers among the founders in the start-up community, for two straight years, they said. Questions sent to Grover remained unanswered.
Amid allegations of misappropriating funds, he has been the subject of a probe by the company. PTI reported that GST authorities are scrutinising BharatPe books of the last four years to see if bogus invoices were issued for services as well.
BharatPe had stripped its co-founder Ashneer Grover and his wife Madhuri Jain of all positions after a preliminary report of an external audit commissioned by the fintech firm’s board showed that the duo indulged in alleged misdeeds and financial irregularities.
GST officials have since last year been investigating the books of BharatPe for alleged issuance of invoices without any actual supply of goods and the Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI) in October 2021 had conducted a search operation at the fintech firm’s head office.