BharatPe co-founder Ashneer Grover and wife stopped at Delhi airport, denied foreign travel

New Delhi: Shark Tank India fame Ashneer Grover and his wife Madhuri Jain were stopped from travelling abroad on Thursday night amid the ongoing investigation against them over alleged fraud at BharatPe.

Notably, BharatPe co-founder Ashneer Grover and his wife have been caught in controversy related to fraudulent transactions during their stint with the company and currently are under the lens of Economic Offences Wing (EOW).

An ET report said that Ashneer Grover and wife Madhuri Jain were stopped at Delhi’s IGI airport last night, on basis of Look out circular (LoC) issued against the duo by EOW. The couple were reportedly flying to New York. They were intercepted by the security agencies, sent back and told to join the probe.

Notably, the couple is facing probe over alleged fake bank transfers to the tune of Rs 56 crore from 2019-2022.

Controversy that Grover couple got embroiled in

According to EOW’s findings, as presented in the Delhi High Court recently, the duo allegedly used backdate invoices for transferring BharatPe’s funds as commission for hiring services.

These transactions were reportedly made to fake HR consultancies and were done at the behest of Ashneer Grover and his wife & also then head of controls in the company.

According to reports, at least 8 Human Resource consultancies with alleged links to Madhuri Jain served as ‘beneficiaries’ of illicit funds. It also said that these HR consultancies were created with an intention to siphon off funds from BharatPe.

As per status report of EOW, the addresses of these HR consultancies also belonged to family members of Madhuri Jain.

It further claimed that at least Rs 7.6 crore was routed to these fake HR consultancies while rs 1.66 crore was paid as penalty to GST authorities.

Altogether, an amount of Rs 71.76 crore allegedly embezzled to their bank accounts by fraudulent means.

When EOW filed FIR against the couple

The EOW of Delhi Police filed an FIR against Ashneer Grover, BharatPe co-founder, his wife and family members in May this year. The FIR was filed against them after repeated complaints, accusing the couple of corporate malpractices during their reign in the company and creating fake backdated bills & also fictitious vendors.

What Ashneer Grover said on charges

Ashneer Grover, who once headed BharatPe, reacted strongly to the charges and also slammed the press & social media for reporting on the matter.

He said that he ‘would be the last man standing’ after BharatPe, illiterate media and Twitter judges are gone.’

I’ll be last man standing long after ‘BharatPe’ , Sequoia (oh sorry they already wrapped up in India), 2 takke ke anpadh press vaale and ‘Twitter’ judges are gone ! Mark my words !!

Le Honourable HC : FIR quashing admitted and being heard. Not a single relief to BharatPe in… pic.twitter.com/WV0Hf3JurE

— Ashneer Grover (@Ashneer_Grover) November 15, 2023

For the unversed, Ashneer Grover was the co-founder of BharatPe and his wife Madhuri Jain was the head of controls at the company. The start-up businessman shot to fame after debuting on reality TV show ‘Shark Tank India’.

Ashneer Grover stepped down as BharatPe CEO in March 2022 while his wife Madhuri Jain was sacked from her role at the company after a forensic audit, which uncovered multiple discrepancies at the company.