Barely a day after BharatPe’s beleaguered co-founder Ashneer Grover resigned, the troubled fintech’s board has sacked him from all positions – it no longer recognizes him as a co-founder. This happened a few days later when Ashneer’s wife Madhuri Jain Grover, who was the controlling head of the company, was fired from her position.
The BharatPe board has accused Grover and his family of “widespread misappropriation” of company funds – an allegation that has been doing the rounds ever since the media were apprised of the preliminary findings of a review of the company’s corporate governance. “The Grover family and their relatives are involved in extensive misappropriation of company funds, including creating fake vendors, through which they have withdrawn money from the company’s expense account,” the statement said.
In his resignation letter sent to the company’s board on the midnight of March 1, a belligerent Grover accused BharatPe’s investors and board of treating the founders as ‘slaves’ and cutting off ‘founders at will’.
After Grover resigned from the board, he launched a scathing attack against all investors, lawyers and independent directors associated with BharatPe.
When asked what is the reason for the decision, Grover told Moneycontrol.com in an interview, “The whole process is a sham. They have decided what they want. No idea for any process. They’re going after me, my wife, my whole family.”
The stampede – triggered by the release of an audio clip accusing Grover of verbal abuse by an employee of Kotak Mahindra Bank – has seen the founder, the company and its board trading allegations amid an independent audit into allegations of financial irregularities at the firm.
Initial investigation by consulting firm Alvarez & Marsal revealed that Grover’s family members, his wife Madhuri Jain, former controlling head at BharatPe, were allegedly involved in financial irregularities at the company.
Grover’s resignation comes after the Singapore International Arbitration Center (SIAC) rejected his emergency petition last week against the ongoing “governance review” within the company. He declined to give further details about the mediation. He said that he would not take any further legal action and from his point of view the whole controversy was over with his resignation.
Meanwhile, Grover said that his resignation ended the entire boardroom drama, with his wife also taking a similar stand on the matter. He added that it is time to move on in life away from the endless “media drama”. The wife of founder and former Managing Director (MD) Ashneer Grover said this soon after deleting her series of tweets and videos criticizing the activities at the company.
Here is a timeline of how the Grover vs Bharatpe saga has gone so far:
January 5: An anonymous Twitter handle called shared a SoundCloud link of an audio clip in which Grover was heard purportedly abusing an employee of Kotak Mahindra Bank. The conflict happened because Kotak Mahindra Bank was reportedly unable to get Nykaa’s IPO allotment for Grover and his wife, the audio clip showed.
January 6: Grover claims that the audio clip posted online is fake.
January 8: Clip removed from Twitter and SoundCloud, Grover deleted his tweet.
January 9: Reports said that Grover and wife had sent a legal notice to Kotak Mahindra Bank in October. The bank says that it will take legal action on the audio clip.
January 17: Grover’s August 2020 email dispute with Sequoia employee surfaces.
January 19: Grover went on ‘voluntary’ leave till the end of March.
January 29: BharatPe board announces independent audit.
January 30: Grover hopes for an “amicable solution” but has hired a law firm.
February 4: The preliminary investigation report has linked Grover’s wife Madhuri Jain to financial fraud. Grover’s
February 2: A letter has surfaced demanding the removal of CEO Suhail Sameer from the board.
February 10: Jain questioned the leak of preliminary findings in his name report to A&M.
February 1 1: CEO Sameer Sohail asks employees to rely on company board for future course of action
February 22: Grover seeks protection from any future action as part of the settlement. Rajnish Kumar, chairman of the Attacks Board, has written in a letter.
23 February: Bharatpe sacks Madhuri Jain for misappropriation of funds Kumar says Grover’s allegations will have no effect on the company.
February 27: SIAC rejects Grover’s emergency petition against Bharatpe governance review.
procession 1: Ashneer Grover resigns from BharatPe
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