BharatPe settles with Ashneer Grover, former co-founder will not be associated with BharatPe in any capacity

Further, he will also return shares to BharatPe co-founder Bhavik Koladiya. In January 2023, Koladiya alleged that he transferred 1,611 shares of BharatPe (now 16,110 shares) worth Rs 88 Lakh to Grover, but never got paid for these. The matter later went to court and Grover was barred from selling these shares.

“We wish Mr. Grover well. BharatPe continues to focus on delivering industry-leading solutions to its merchants and customers driving growth with profitability”, the statement from BharatPe released on September 30, 2024, added.

Following this development, Grover tweeted on X, "I have reached a decisive settlement with BharatPe. I repose my faith in the management and board, who are doing great work in taking BharatPe forward in the right direction. I continue to remain aligned with the company's growth and
success. I will no longer be associated with BharatPe in any capacity, nor be part of the capital table. My remaining shares will be managed by my Family Trust. Both parties have decided not to pursue cases filed. I hope BharatPe continues to grow and succeed for the benefit of all its stakeholders."

The timing

The move to smoke the peace pipe comes days after Deepak Gupta, a family member of former BharatPe managing director and co-founder Ashneer Grover was arrested by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Delhi Police in the case of alleged misappropriation of the fintech unicorn's funds.

Deepak Gupta is the husband of Madhuri Grover's sister. Madhuri Grover, the wife of Ashneer Grover, was fired by BharatPe as its Head of Controls. Gupta was arrested on the night of September 19 was supposed to be produced in front of the Chief Judicial Magistrate Court.

BharatPe had filed a criminal complaint in December 2022 against 5 accused - Ashneer Grover, Madhuri Grover, Shwetank Jain (brother of Madhuri), Suresh Jain (father-in-law of Ashneer) and Deepak Gupta (brother-in-law of Ashneer and Madhuri).

The EOW filed an FIR against BharatPe co-founder Ashneer Grover, his wife Madhuri Jain and their family members Deepak Gupta, Suresh Jain and Shwetank Jain in May 2023 in the Rs 81-crore fraud case.

Last month, the EOW had made its first arrest in the case -- Amit Kumar Bansal was nabbed on the allegation of being one of the members of the non-existing firms that had received payments of Rs 72 crore from the then directors of BharatPe between 2019 and 2021.

BharatPe has accused Grover and his family of causing losses to the firm to the tune of about Rs 81.3 crore through illegitimate payments to bogus human-resource consultants, inflated and undue payments through pass-through vendors connected to the accused, sham transactions in input-tax credit and payment of penalty to Goods and Services Tax (GST) authorities, illegal payments to travel agencies, invoices forged by Jain and destruction of evidence.

Ashneer’s second innings

Meanwhile, Grover, who became a household name after his stint on the Indian version of Shark Tank, is preparing his second coming in the fintech arena with an app for medical loans called ZeroPe, Moneycontrol reported in April. Third Unicorn was founded by Grover after his exit from BharatPe and launched a fantasy gaming platform, called CrickPe, in 2023.

IPO-bound BharatPe

Payments startup BharatPe on April 16 elevated Nalin Negi as the chief executive officer, more than a year after he took over as the interim CEO. Negi, who joined BharatPe as the chief financial officer (CFO)in 2022, was named the interim CEO in January 2023 following Suhail Sameer’s exit. He had been serving in both the positions ever since. It has plans of tapping the public markets for a listing soon.

Fintech unicorn BharatPe’s prominent investors include Ribbit Capital, Coatue, Insight Partners and Peak XV partners (previously Sequoia Capital India).