The Delhi Police Economic Offences Wing has registered an FIR against Ashneer Grover, his wife, and other family members on the basis of a criminal complaint filed by BharatPe in December 2022. The FIR has been registered on eight counts of serious cognizable criminal offences including criminal breach of trust, criminal conspiracy, cheating, dishonesty, and forgery.

The FIR has been filed against Ashneer Grover, Madhuri Jain Grover, Deepal Gupta, and other Jain family members after five months of investigation by the Delhi Police on the basis of the criminal complaint filed by the company.

As per the FIR, which CNBC-TV18 has reviewed, there are allegations of sham transactions and embezzlement to the tune of Rs 71.76 crores, illegitimate payments of Rs 7.6 crores to bogus HR consultants on the basis of 86 false and forged invoices, inflated and undue payments through pass-through vendors connected to the accused persons, input tax credit and payment of penalty to GST authorities of Rs 1.66 crores, dishonest and illegal payments to travel agencies basis false and fabricated invoices, personal enrichment through reimbursements using self-created fake and forged invoices, and destruction of evidence by Madhuri Jain Grover.

ALSO READ | Ashneer Groover launches cricket fantasy sports app CrickPe which gives cash rewards to cricketers

In a statement to CNBC-TV18, 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 pecunary gains."

It is important to note that the allegations in the FIR are merely accusations at this stage, but the registration of the FIR is a significant step, and the investigation will now proceed as per due process of law.

Ashneer Grover served as MD and Co-founder of Bharat Pe until he resigned from the company and relinquished his position on February 28, 2022. Embroiled in a boardroom battle after a spate of controversies, Grover's resignation came after the services of his wife Madhuri Jain Grover as head of controls were terminated on allegations of misappropriation of funds.

(Edited by : Anshul)

First Published:May 11, 2023 10:45 AM IST