FIR against BharatPe co-founder Ashneer Grover, his wife, family

The Economic Offences Wing of the Delhi Police has filed an FIR against former BharatPe cofounder Ashneer Grover his wife Madhuri Jain Grover and family members Deepak Gupta Suresh Jain and Shwetank Jain for an alleged Rs 81 crore fraud after a complaint by the fintech unicornThe FIR a copy of which has been seen by PTI was filed under eight sections of the Indian Penal Code including 406 that deals with criminal breach of trust 420 cheating and dishonesty 467 and 468 forgeryBharatPe in the complaint alleged that Grover and his family caused damages of about Rs 813 crore through illegitimate payments to bogus human resource consultants inflated and undue payments through passthrough vendors connected to the accused sham transactions in input tax credit and payment of penalty to GST authorities illegal payment to travel agencies forged invoices by Madhuri Jain and destruction of evidenceIf convicted Grover Madhuri and others can face up to anything between 10 years to life imprisonmentEOW now has the power to arrest all the accusedAlso Read Apex court reserves verdict on pleas seeking legal validation for samesex marriageBharatPe welcomed the registration of FIR saying 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 employeesThe registration of the FIR is a step in the right direction which unearths various suspicious transactions made by the family for their personal pecuniary gains it said in a statementThe FIR it said will now enable law enforcement agencies to investigate deeper into the criminality and bring the culprits to booksWe have full faith in our countrys 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 it addedIn December 2022 BharatPe filed a criminal complaint against Grover and his family with the EOW of Delhi Police alleging fraud of Rs 8128 crore criminal breach of trust conspiracy cheating forgery and destruction of evidence The same month it also filed a civil suit with the Delhi High Court against its former MD and cofounder Grover and his family seeking up to Rs 8867 crore in damages for alleged cheating and embezzlement of fundsThe suit running into 2800 pages alleges that Grover his wife Madhuri Jain and other family members created fake bills enlisted fictitious vendors to provide services to the company and overcharged the company for recruitmentMadhuri Jain was the head of controls at BharatPe and was fired earlier in 2022 after a forensic audit revealed several irregularities Subsequently Ashneer Grover resigned as CEO in March 2022BharatPe last year hit the headlines when Grover was accused of using inappropriate language and threatening a Kotak Group employee for failing to secure an allotment and funding for the Nykaa IPO for himself and his wife Madhuri Jain GroverThereafter BharatPe appointed Alvarez and Marsal Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas and PwC to conduct a corporate governance review and determine whether Grover had committed willful misconductThis led to the ouster of Jain and Grover from the company and its board in MarchOn May 10 2022 BharatPe said that after the detailed review the company had decided to take steps against employees involved in misconduct and claw back Ashneer Grovers restricted sharesThe complaint was received at EOW and enquiry has been conducted into the allegations levelled against alleged persons From the contents of the complaint and enquiry conducted so far primafacie offences punishable under Sections 406408 409420467468471120B IPC Indian penal code are made out the FIR copy readsBharatPe had filed an arbitration claim in Singapore to claw back restricted shares 14 per cent allotted to Grover and prevent him from using the title of a founder In January this year Koladiya sued Grover reclaiming the shares transferred in December 2018Last month the companys cofounder Shashvat Nakrani sued Grover over unpaid sharesMZM Legal is advising BharatPe on the criminal complaintThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever