Fintech major, BharatPe has filed a criminal case against former MD and co-founder Ashneer Grover and his wife Madhuri Jain along with three other family members, including Madhuri’s brother Shwetank Jain, father Suresh Jain and her brother-in-law Deepak Gupta.

Madhuri Jain was BharatPe’s Head of Controls and Deepak Gupta was the company’s manager of sales and operation, administration & facilities. Shwetank Jain and Suresh Jain were both vendors of BharatPe.

The company has sought ₹88.6 crore in damages from the accused; this includes a monetary loss of ₹83 crore allegedly incurred by the company because of the misappropriation of funds and ₹5 crore for the loss and injury caused to the brand and applicable taxes.

Next hearing

In a court hearing on Thursday, the Delhi High Court asked Grover and the four other accused to respond in two weeks’ time. The next hearing is scheduled for January 9, 2023. BharatPe has also filed a complaint with the Economic Offences Wings (EOW), which can result in a maximum of 10 years’ imprisonment for the accused, if found guilty.

Commenting on the development, a BharatPe spokesperson said, “We have full faith in the courts and authorities and are confident that justice will be done. As the matter is sub judice, we have no further comment to offer at this stage.”

In the lawsuit, BharatPe has accused the Grover family of leading the company into various dubious transactions. The company also alleged that Madhuri Jain approved payments to several fictitious vendors.

BharatPe has listed 35 such vendors who were allegedly either non-existent or did not supply the product/services against whom the invoices were generated. The company also alleged that 25 of these vendors were connected with each other through a common or connected proprietors.

businessline sent e-mail and messages to all the five named in the suit, but they remained unanswered till the time of press.

Madhuri Jain, former Head of Controls, BharatPe

Madhuri Jain, former Head of Controls, BharatPe

Quick recap

In February, Madhuri Jain was fired from her post after the company discovered financial irregularities. Later in March, Ashneer Grover, too, quit the firm after months of scuffle with the board. Close on the heels, the company removed him from the post of co-founder and managing director.

Since then, BharatPe has seen multiple senior-level exits including Vijay Aggarwal, chief technology officer; company’s original founder Bhavik Koladiya; founding member Satyam Nathani; chief revenue officer Nishit Sharma; and head of institutional debt Chandrima Dhar, among others.

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW