FIR Against Ashneer Grover, Family On Fresh Complaint By BharatPe

The Economic Offences Wing of the Delhi Police registered a first information report against controversy-mired BharatPe co-founder Ashneer Grover and his family members, after a fresh complaint from the payments company over alleged suspicious transactions.

The FIR has been registered against Ashneer Grover, his wife Madhuri Jain Grover, brother-in-law Deepak Gupta, who was the head of procurement at BharatPe, and members from Madhuri Jain’s family (Shwetank Jain and Suresh Jain). 

The FIR has been filed under eight sections of the Indian Penal Code: 

• 406 (Punishment for criminal breach of trust).

• 408 (Criminal breach of trust by clerk or servant).

• 409 (Criminal breach of trust by public servant, or by banker, merchant or agent).

• 420 (Cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property).

• 467 (Forgery of valuable security, will, etc.).

• 468 (Forgery for purpose of cheating). 

• 471 (Using as genuine a forged document or electronic record).

• 120B (Punishment of Criminal Conspiracy).

BharatPe has alleged that Grover and his family caused damages of approximately Rs 81.3 crore. The Delhi-based startup accused the family of:

• Illegitimate payments to the tune of Rs 7.6 crore to bogus human resource consultants (having nexus with the accused), on the basis of 86 false and forged invoices.

• Inflated and undue payments through passthrough vendors, connected to the accused persons, to the detriment of the company.

• Input Tax Credit and payment of penalty to GST authorities (to the tune of Rs 1.66 crore) — sham transactions and embezzlement of Rs 71.76 crore. 

• Dishonest and illegal payments to travel agencies connected to the accused persons, basis false and fabricated invoices for services already availed from genuine providers.

• Personal enrichment through reimbursements by Madhuri Jain, using self-created fake and forged invoices.

• Destruction of evidence by Madhuri Jain.

“For the last 15 months, the company has been facing a vicious and malicious campaign run by Grover…The 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. This FIR will now enable the law enforcement agencies to investigate deeper into the criminality and bring the culprits to books,” BharatPe said in a statement.

BharatPe and Ashneer Grover have been locked in a prolonged battle since last year. The company had last year filed a civil lawsuit against Grover, alleging misappropriation of funds. 

Grover had resigned from BharatPe in March 2022, following a governance review by the company in January 2022, that discovered misappropriation of funds worth Rs 83.6 crore.

The company was initially founded by Shashvat Nakrani and Bhavik Koladiya in March 2018. Grover’s association with the firm began with an investment four months later. What started as a purchase of 3,192 shares in the company for Rs 32,000, has now led to Grover facing charges of possible fraud and misappropriation of funds.