BharatPe Co-founder stopped at Delhi airport
Ashneer Grover and his wife Madhuri Jain were involved in Rs 81.3-cr illegitimate payments fraud at the fintech firm; they can face up to 10-yr imprisonment if convicted
New Delhi: BharatPe co-founder Ashneer Grover and his wife Madhuri Jain were stopped at the Delhi international airport following a look out circular (LoC) issued against them in the alleged fraud at the fintech firm, sources said.
The couple was to travel to New York late on Thursday for vacation when they were stopped at the airport on the basis of a lookout circular issued by the Economic Offences Wing (EoW) of the Delhi police. EoW is investigating complaints of payments being made at BharatPe to fake human resource consultancies allegedly operated by Grover and family. They have also been accused of backdating invoices to use funds. Grover in a post on X confirmed being stopped at the airport. He however said he had not received any communication or summons from EoW since the FIR was filed in May. “I had not received any communication or summons from EOW since FIR in May till 8 AM today 17 morning (7 hours after returning from airport),” he said. “I was going to US from 16-23 November.”
After being stopped at the airport, he was asked to return home. “At immigration they said LoC laga hua hai sir - EOW se check kar ke batate hai (At the immigration, they said LoC has been issued and they need to check with EoW),” he said. “I found it strange as have travelled 4 times internationally since FIR filed in May - never been a problem and I had not even been summoned once.”
The flight left in the meantime and EoW asked immigration to allow the duo to return home, he said. “Today morning EOW summon was home delivered - will cooperate as always,” he added. While sources said he had protested when the couple was stopped at the airport, Grover said there was “no drama.” “LoC hatane ka process hai (there is a process to get LoC revoked) - I am not a flight risk - easy to prove,” he added.
The EoW in May filed an FIR against Grover, his wife Madhuri and family members Deepak Gupta, Suresh Jain and Shwetank Jain for an alleged Rs 81 crore fraud after a complaint by fintech unicorn BhartPe.
BharatPe in the complaint alleged that Grover and his family caused damages of about Rs 81.3 crore through illegitimate payments to bogus human resource consultants, inflated and undue payments through passthrough vendors.
