Delhi HC asks Ashneer Grover to take down defamatory tweets against BharatPe

BharatPe co-founder Ashneer Grover.

The Delhi High Court on March 15 directed Ashneer Grover, former managing director and co-founder of BharatPe, to take down defamatory tweets against the payments company.

In one of the tweets that Grover has been asked to remove, he called BharatPe boad chairman Rajnish Kumar, a former State Bank of India (SBI) chief, “petty people”, alleging that there was something wrong with the core. The two have been at loggerheads ever since Grover left the company in early 2022.

The order also directed publications, including the Economic Times and Inc42, to take down within 48 hours articles based on a letter written by Grover to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

The orders came on an application filed by BharatPe against Grover over fresh "defamatory" tweets posted by him. In November, Grover had apologised for a post on X (formerly Twitter) that divulged confidential information about the fintech unicorn’s Series E round.

Grover’s lawyer gave an undertaking not to repeat the offence.

BharatPe had filed a plea to restrict Grover, who had a public falling out and an unceremonious exit from the startup, from publishing or disclosing confidential information about the company, as he continues to be bound by confidentiality obligations under his employment agreement.

In December 2022, the fintech had sought up to Rs 88 crore in damages from Grover's wife Madhuri Jain and other family members. It alleged that the Grover family created fake bills and enlisted fictitious vendors to provide services to the company and overcharged for recruitment.

The company filed a criminal complaint against Grover and his family with the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) on 17 counts, including criminal breach of trust, forgery, document fabrication, and embezzlement.

In February 2022, Madhuri Jain was removed as the head of controls for alleged misappropriation of funds. On March 1, Grover resigned as MD and director.

Grover's NCLT plea

In November 2023, Grover filed a plea in the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), alleging he was ousted from the company in an “arbitrary manner in excess exercise of powers in order (to) clawback his restrictive shares illegally and without complying with law”.

The plea is expected to come up for hearing in April.