The Delhi High court on Thursday issued a notice of summons to ex-BharatPe co-founder Ashneer Grover and his wife Madhuri Jain in a suit filed by the fintech unicorn. In addition, the Delhi HC bench headed by Justice Navin Chawla also restrained the couple from making any “defamatory statements” against BharatPe in an order on Thursday.
The Delhi-based fintech unicorn moved the court seeking damages of Rs 88 crore from Grover, Jain and other family members in a fresh civil suit. The fintech firms also separately filed a criminal complaint against Grover, Jain and family members with the Economic Offences Wing alleging 17 counts of financial fraud, said a person aware of the development asking not to be named.
“Charges against Ashneer & family include cheating, siphoning, criminal breach of trust, embezzlement of funds. BharatPe will also be filing an FIR against Grover, his wife and a few family members in Delhi as required under the process of filing a complaint with the economic offences wing,” added the person mentioned above.
FE has also reviewed a copy of the 130-page suit field before the high court on Thursday which alleged that Grover and Jain illegally siphoned off Rs 83 crore in company funds for various personal use by creating fake vendors.
BharatPe also claimed that the couple misappropriated Rs 59.73 lakh “towards the payment of their personal expenses, such as rent and utilities paid on their personal residence, purchase of home appliances, purchase of airline tickets for family members, payments towards personal skincare, etc.”
Also Read: BharatPe files criminal suit against Ashneer Grover, family
The suit comes months after they were ousted from the company over allegations of misappropriation of funds.
Earlier in February 2022, Grover had filed an emergency plea before the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) seeking to quash BharatPe’s investigation into alleged financial fraud and mishandling of company funds.
However, the emergency plea was dismissed by the court, and days later Grover was stripped of the co-founder title. Further, BharatPe also clawed back Grover’s restricted shares in the company.
These developments come after the conclusion of a two-month-long corporate governance review carried out by Alvarez & Marsal, Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co and PwC in February 2022. Without naming Grover, the fintech firm said necessary action has been initiated “against the former founder to claw back his restricted shares as per the shareholders’ agreement. It will take all steps to enforce its right under the law”.
Grover currently holds roughly 8.5% in BharatPe, of which 1.4% is not vested. Earlier in the year, BharatPe had alleged embezzlement of funds by Grover and his wife, who was the head of controls at the Sequoia Capital-backed start-up. Grover had to go on a leave in January following allegations of using abusive language against Kotak Mahindra Bank staff and fraudulent practices.
In March 2022, BharatPe first sacked Jain, which was followed by Grover resigning and the company stripping him of the co-founder and other titles over an alleged “extensive misappropriation of company funds” by “creating fake vendors” to siphon money and using “company expense accounts” to “enrich themselves and fund their lavish lifestyles”.
BharatPe also appointed ex-SBI Card executive Nalin Negi as the new chief financial officer (CFO) in August following the tussle between Grover and the company.
The board versus Grover saga gained media attention after an alleged audio recording of Grover surfaced on Twitter in January 2022, in which the co-founder of the $3-billion company could be heard hurling verbal abuses at an employee of Kotak Wealth Management.