Delhi High Court Denies Stay in Investigation Against Former BharatPe MD Ashneer Grover in Rs 81 Crore Fraud Case
- The Delhi High Court has denied a stay on the investigation into former BharatPe Managing Director and Co-founder Ashneer Grover and his wife Madhuri Jain Grover regarding an alleged fraud of Rs 81 crore.
- The court has asked the couple to file an anticipatory bail instead of directing the investigating officer to provide advance notice of their custody.
- Ashneer Grover and his wife have filed a petition seeking to quash the FIR registered by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Delhi Police, and the court has issued a notice to the investigating agency and complainant BharatPe to state their stand.
- The court has also issued notice on the application for a stay of the investigation.
- The court has stated that no case has been made at this stage to stay the investigation and has advised the petitioners to explore other legal remedies available to them.
- Counsel for the petitioners argued that the FIR was based on mala fides and the allegations was related to GST and company management, which were within their rights as directors and did not involve any criminality.
- The complainant’s lawyers opposed the issuance of notice on the petition, claiming that the matter involved complex financial transactions resulting in fund defalcation, bogus transactions under GST law, fund diversion, and forgery.
- The FIR was registered by the EOW earlier this year under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, including criminal breach of trust, cheating, dishonesty, and forgery.
- BharatPe alleged that the Grover family caused damages through illegitimate payments, inflated payments, sham transactions, and forged invoices.
- Madhuri Jain, former head of controls at BharatPe, was fired in 2022 after a forensic audit revealed irregularities, and Ashneer Grover resigned as CEO in March 2022.
- The next hearing in the case is scheduled for September 25.
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