Ashneer Grover and wife Madhuri Jain, BharatPe co-founders, were stopped at the Indira Gandhi International Airport on Thursday. This was due to a lookout circular issued against them, based on information from sources. The circular was requested by the Economic Offence Wing (EOW) of the Delhi Police. The couple's travel to New York was reportedly interrupted, they were made to return to their residence in Delhi and were asked to participate in the Economic Offence Wing (EOW) investigation next week.
The Economic Offences Wing of the police issued a summons to Ashneer Grover and Madhuri Jain at their Delhi residence on Friday morning. The summons requested their presence for an investigation at the wing's office in Mandir Marg.
This investigation is related to allegations that recruitment firms associated with Grover and his family used backdated invoices to divert funds from BharatPe, a fintech company.
In 2022, BharatPe gained attention when Grover faced accusations of using inappropriate language with a bank employee due to issues securing allotment and funding for Nykaa IPO. Following this, Grover took voluntary leave and subsequently resigned.
In December of the same year, BharatPe filed a criminal complaint with the EOW, citing 17 charges such as embezzlement, forgery, and criminal breach of trust against Grover, his wife, and her family members including Deepak Gupta, Suresh Jain, and Shwetank Jain, alleging involvement in a fraud amounting to Rs 81 crore. If found guilty, the Grovers could face imprisonment for up to ten years.
Ashneer Grover and family made fake invoices to take money from BharatPe, revealed the EOW investigation. Invoices from their linked recruitment firms had bank details created later. The EOW told the Delhi High Court this week about problems with vendor invoices.
The report mentioned that the registered addresses of the eight HR firms were linked to family members or relatives of Madhuri Jain, Suresh Jain (Madhuri Jain Grover's father), and Shwetank Jain (Madhuri Jain's brother).
It stated, "In all these eight alleged firms, around 7.60 crore was found credited, almost all the credit entries coming from complainant company RIPL."
BharatPe alleges that Jain and her family collaborated in carrying out fraudulent transactions related to recruitment services. The company claims these eight vendors had close ties to Jain's family and each other
Earlier, the company asserted that Grover made minimal contributions to BharatPe's technology or concept, joining in 2018 with a 'paltry' investment of Rs 31,920, receiving 3,192 shares in return.
Ashneer Grover wrote on X (formerly Twitter) that he received the summons and expressed his willingness to cooperate with the police investigation. He mentioned not receiving any communication from the investigative agency since May last year when the case was filed, despite traveling abroad multiple times since then.
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