Ashneer Grover's emergency plea against BharatPe governance review tossed out by Singapore International Arbitration Centre

'Shark Tank India' judge and BharatPe founder Ashneer Grover.

BharatPe cofounder Ashneer Grover's emergency arbitration plea challenging the firm's decision to conduct a governance review has been rejected by the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC), according to sources privy to the development.

BharatPe and Grover did not respond to queries by Moneycontrol.

Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who appeared as lead counsel for BharatPe in this hotly contested emergency arbitration, said he was "most impressed with the speed and diligence with which emergency hearings were taken up and decided in record time, despite a host of issues involved”.

He declined to speak on the merits of the matter.

On Tuesday, Moneycontrol reported citing sources that Grover had invoked emergency arbitration in SIAC.

Grover is being advised by senior lawyer Ritin Rai besides two law firms – Karanjawala and Meraki Law.

In an interaction with Moneycontrol last month, Grover had questioned the board's intent to launch a governance review.

"Here is my question to the board. What was the need for a governance review in the first place?" he said.

Grover had also questioned the media leaks, after parts of the audit report by Alvarez and Marsal started circulating in social media.

On January 28, BharatPe disclosed it had hired Alvarez to conduct a governance review of the company. The next week, it confirmed it had also roped in PwC.

Moneycontrol also reported on February 7 that the decision to bring PwC after hiring Alvarez was a step towards terminating the services of Madhuri Jain Grover, head of controls and co-founder and managing director Ashneer Grover, as their ouster can only happen after a report by a Big 4 audit firm indicts them.

On February 23, BharatPe announced it had terminated the services of Madhuri Jain Grover. According to sources, this happened following allegations of misappropriation of funds.

According to a preliminary report by Alvarez conducted in January, inconsistencies were found in dealings with vendors. The report had flagged payments to vendors and consultants that were non-existent.