Ashneer Grover
Financial technology company BharatPe on Monday said its former co-founder Ashneer Grover will not be associated with the company in any way nor will he hold shares in it. Grover was removed from the position of CEO of BharatPe by the company’s board of directors in March 2022. Since then, both sides continuously waged a legal battle. BharatPe said in the statement that BharatPe has entered into a definitive agreement with its former co-founder Ashneer Grover. As per the agreement, Grover will not be associated with BharatPe in any capacity nor will he hold shares in the company. This means that, overall, the controversy has stopped completely.
The company said this
Following the deal, some of Grover’s shares will be transferred to Resilient Growth Trust for the benefit of the company and the remaining shares will be managed by his family trust. The statement said that both parties have decided not to continue with the cases presented. We wish Grover all the best. BharatPe will continue to focus on providing industry-leading solutions to its merchants and customers.
What was the dispute between BharatPe and Ashneer Grover?
The dispute between BharatPe and Ashneer Grover began in January 2022, when an audio clip surfaced. The clip allegedly contained a conversation between Grover and a Kotak Bank employee, in which Grover could be heard threatening the employee. Following this, Grover took a voluntary leave of absence until mid-March. The company’s board of directors announced an independent audit in February, and a preliminary investigation concluded that Grover’s wife, Madhuri Jain, was involved in embezzling company funds. Due to this, the company fired Madhuri Jain and in March, Ashneer Grover also resigned from BharatPe.
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In December 2022, BharatPe filed a criminal case against Grover and his family before the Delhi High Court. That same month, the company also filed a complaint against Grover with the Economic Offenses Wing (EOW) of the Delhi Police. Meanwhile, BharatPe had approached the Singapore International Arbitration Center (SIAC) to recover Grover’s restricted stake.
In January 2023, company co-founder Bhavik Koladia filed a lawsuit to acquire Grover’s stake. In February, Grover wrote a letter to NPCI accusing Coladia of data theft. In March, another co-founder, Shashwat Nakrani, sued Grover for unpaid shares.
