BharatPe Vs Ashneer Grover: A Timeline Of Events

After a prolonged battle with investors, the board and senior officials of payments firm BharatPe earlier this year, the company's former co-founder and managing director Ashneer Grover is back in the headlines. BharatPe filed a civil lawsuit against Grover, his wife and other family members, alleging embezzlement of funds.

Filed in the Delhi High Court earlier this week, the civil lawsuit alleges that Grover and other defendants funnelled company money to non-existent vendors and also used it to pay for personal expenses like air travel and rent. BharatPe has also filed a criminal case against Grover with the Economic Offences Wing.

BharatPe's civil lawsuit seeks to recover Rs 83 crore from the defendants for the alleged misappropriation, according to a copy reviewed by BQ Prime. The company is also seeking Rs 5 crore worth of damages for injury to its “goodwill and reputation,” caused by Grover and Jain Grover. 

BharatPe is backed by investors such as Sequoia Capital India, Ribbit Capital, Tiger Global and Insight Partners. The company competes with the likes of Paytm and PhonePe in the payments business and also has a lending business. 

The defendants “treated the Plaintiff [BharatPe] as their personal fiefdom. By wilfully perpetuating the lack of internal governance policies in the Plaintiff company, the conducted its affairs for their personal benefit,” the lawsuit alleged.  

While BharatPe was initially founded by Shashvat Nakrani and Bhavik Koladiya in March 2018, Grover's association with the firm began with an investment four months later. What started as a purchase of 3,192 shares in the company for ~Rs 32,000, has now led to Grover facing charges of possible fraud and misappropriation of funds. 

Here is brief chronological summary of Grover and his relatives' association with BharatPe and the charges presented in the civil lawsuit:  

July 2018: Ashneer Grover becomes a shareholder in BharatPe. 

July 2018: Madhuri Jain Grover (Grover's spouse) is appointed to the board of BharatPe.

September 2018: Deepak Gupta (Jain Grover's brother-in-law) is appointed as manager sales and operation administration & facilities of BharatPe.

Jain Grover was later removed from the board of directors and appointed as head of procurement & group president administration and facilities in November 2018—thereby serving as her brother-in-law's boss.

December 2018: Ashneer Grover is appointed as chief executive officer of Bharat Pe.

The lawsuit alleges that between financial year 2018-19 to January 2022, the company was under the total supervision of Grover and his relatives. It was during this period that the three of them entered into “dubious transactions", which led to a monetary loss of over Rs 83 crore to BharatPe. 

Such dubious transactions cited in the lawsuit include: Rs 71 crore worth of payments are made to non-existent vendor, Rs 7 crore is paid to vendors “purportedly” providing recruitment services. Rs 1 Crore paid to a company solely controlled by Jain Grover. Rs 59 lakh for Grover and Jain Grover's personal expenses. 

August 2021: Grover is appointed as managing director of BharatPe.

October 2021: The Directorate General of Goods and Services Tax Intelligence conducts a search at BharatPe's premises. 

November 2021: Gupta issues a reply to the DGGI's summons admitting that vendors flagged by the body are indeed non-existent. The reply was approved by Jain Grover. 

January 2022: An audio clip of Grover is leaked which allegedly contains a conversation between Grover, his wife and a Kotak Group employee. Grover can be allegedly heard verbally abusing the Kotak employee. 

The lawsuit states that BharatPe's board “came across” suspicious documents related to the recruitment service vendors “around this time". The board then determined a full investigation was merited.

January 2022: Grover goes on voluntary leave from the company; Jain Grover and Gupta are sent on compulsory leave of absence.

January 2022: BharatPe constitutes a review committee to conduct a corporate governance review. The governance review discovers misappropriation of funds worth Rs 83.6 crore.  

February 2022: Jain Grover and Gupta's employment at BharatPe is terminated by the company.

March 2022: Grover resigns from BharatPe.

December 2022: BharatPe files lawsuit against Grover, Jain Grover and Gupta.

The Delhi High Court issued a notice and summons to Ashneer Grover and his relatives on Thursday, according to a report from Bar and Bench. The court also issued an order restraining them from making defamatory statements about the company.