FIR Against Ashneer Grover And His Family The FIR has been registered under eight sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including forgery and cheating
By Teena Jose
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Delhi Police's Economic Offences Wing (EOW) has lodged a first information report (FIR) against Ashneer Grover, former managing director of BharatPe, his wife Madhuri Jain Grover, and other members of the family on BharatPe's complaint for alleged INR 81 crore fraud. The FIR has been registered under eight sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including forgery and cheating.
"The 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, prima-facie offences punishable under Sections 406/408/ 409/420/467/468/471/120B IPC (Indian penal code) are made out," the FIR copy reads.
According to the report, BharatPe in the complaint alleged that Grover and his family caused damages of about INR 81.3 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 evidence.
"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," BharatPe reportedly said in a statement.
The statement added, "This FIR will now enable the law enforcement agencies to investigate deeper into the criminality and bring the culprits to books… MZM legal is advising us (BharatPe) on the criminal case."
BharatPe had filed a criminal complaint in December last year against Grover and his family with the EOW of Delhi Police, alleging fraud of INR 81.82 crore. It alleged that Grover, his wife Madhuri Jain, who was the head of controls at Bharat Pe and was fired earlier in 2022, and other family members created fake bills, enlisted fictitious vendors to provide services to the company and overcharged the company for recruitment.
In his resignation letter in March 2022, Grover wrote: "I write this with a heavy heart as today I am being forced to bid adieu to a company of which I am a founder. I say with my head held high that today this company stands as a leader in the fintech world. Since the beginning of 2022, unfortunately, I've been embroiled in baseless and targeted attacks on me and my family by a few individuals who are ready not only to harm me and my reputation but also harm the reputation of the company, which they are ostensibly trying to protect."
