New Delhi: The Delhi Police Economic Offences Wing (EOW) Wednesday lodged an FIR against Ashneer Grover, co-founder and former managing director of fintech unicorn BharatPe, and his ‘family members’ for committing alleged fraud of Rs 81 crore through a “deep-rooted conspiracy”.
The FIR in this regard, a copy of which is with ThePrint, was registered under eight sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) against Grover, his wife Madhuri Jain, and ‘family members’ Deepak Gupta, Suresh Jain, Shwetank Jain, besides other unknown persons.
Sections invoked in the FIR include 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant, banker), 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 416 (cheating by impersonation), 467 (forgery of valuable security), and 120B (criminal conspiracy).
“It has become evident that the accused persons through an elaborate web of deceit have gotten the complainant company (BharatPe) to remit bogus fees in respect of employees who were directly hired by the company and for whom no fee to any HR consultant was payable,” read the FIR.
The complaint against Grover was filed by BharatPe in December 2022, alleging fraud of Rs 81.28 crore by him and the other accused. Grover resigned from BharatPe in March 2022, while his wife Madhuri Jain was terminated from the company in February of that year.
ThePrint reached Ashneer Grover via calls and texts for comment but had not received a response by the time of publication. This report will be updated if and when a response is received.
Over the last six months, Grover has become entangled in multiple legal battles with his former employer over allegations of fraud and financial irregularities. In December last year, BharatPe also filed a civil suit against Grover and his family members before the Delhi High Court, seeking Rs 88 crore in damages. BharatPe co-founders Bhavik Koladiya and Shashvat Nakrani also reportedly sued Grover over the issue of ‘unpaid shares’.
‘Bogus HR consultants’
The FIR lodged Wednesday said that upon request from Madhuri Jain (accused No. 1), BharatPe employees provided data of staffers directly hired by the firm and that this data was then allegedly shared with her brother Shwetank Jain.
Further, Madhuri Jain also stands accused of sharing “template drafts of service contracts and actual invoices” of the company through email to “serve as templates to be used by bogus HR consultants”, which the complainant alleges resulted in losses for BharatPe.
According to the FIR, eight such bogus HR consultancies have been identified which the complainant found to be non-existent at the addresses mentioned in the invoices.
Grover and the others have also been accused of falsifying ledger entries to conceal “dishonest transactions”.
“The accused received the payments made to these bogus HR consultants based out of Panipat in their personal accounts under the head ‘other Panipat’,” read the FIR.
“On a complaint filed by M/s Resilient Innovations Pvt Ltd (BharatPe) against Mr Ashneer Grover (founder & ex-director of complainant company), Mrs Madhuri (Jain) Grover and others, an FIR has been registered after conducting an enquiry. The investigation of the case is underway,” a senior Delhi Police officer said on condition of anonymity.
In a statement issued Thursday, BharatPe said, “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 employees. 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.”
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)