NEW DELHI: The escalation in the fight between BharatPe co-founder Ashneer Grover and the investors in the fintech startup took an ugly turn on Wednesday with the sacking of Madhuri Jain Grover, Ashneer’s wife and head of controls at the company, over allegations of misappropriation of funds.
Jain, who was forced to go on voluntary leave, took to Twitter on Wednesday, tagging TOI among others, calling her sacking an orchestrated “witch hunt” by Sequoia, an investor in BharatPe, Rajnish Kumar, former SBI chairman and board chairman at the firm and Harshjit Sethi, MD at Sequoia Capital. In accompanying tweets consisting of a series of videos she accused top executives at the company of “drunken orgies”.
Later, she shared screenshots of a WhatsApp conversation between Ashneer and BharatPe CEO Suhail Sameer, who had allegedly asked for her resignation on the same day her husband went on a three-month voluntary leave.
When contacted, a BharatPe spokesperson said, “As per your query, we can confirm that the services of Madhuri Jain Grover have been terminated in accordance with the terms of her employment agreement.”
Jain’s name cropped up during an ongoing independent audit of BharatPe’s internal processes and systems by Alvarez and Marsal, which was roped in by the Tiger Global-backed startup. The full report is yet to be submitted, said sources.
The removal of Jain from BharatPe comes against the backdrop of Ashneer launching an attack on Kumar. While Ashneer called the governance review under Kumar’s stewardship prejudiced, Jain shared an audio clip on Wednesday alleging that BharatPe co-founder Bhavik Koladiya called Ashneer with Kumar at his side, wanting to meet him without an agenda and abused him.
Kumar, a banking veteran, told TOI that all allegations against him are baseless.
Sources, however, told TOI that while the Ashneer’s tenure at BharatPe is being reviewed, the co-founder has dug in his heels to prepare for a long-drawn battle, including appointing law firms and filing an arbitration plea with the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) claiming that the investigation against him is illegal.
The Grovers first sparked controversy when a leaked audio call clip allegedly featuring Ashneer abusing and giving death threats to a Kotak employee for failing to provide funding for the Nykaa IPO on October 28 went viral. Ashneer, a former Kotak employee himself, called the clip fake.
But the developments soon assumed significance when a legal notice sent by the Grovers to banker Uday Kotak and to three members of the bank’s senior leadership team, surfaced.
The notice, dated October 30, sought compensation, claiming that the duo planned to invest Rs 500 crore in Nykaa through the bank’s IPO financing services. Kotak Mahindra Bank on January 9 threatened to initiate legal action against the Grovers for alleged use of unparliamentary language and threat to the lender’s employees.
Jain, who was forced to go on voluntary leave, took to Twitter on Wednesday, tagging TOI among others, calling her sacking an orchestrated “witch hunt” by Sequoia, an investor in BharatPe, Rajnish Kumar, former SBI chairman and board chairman at the firm and Harshjit Sethi, MD at Sequoia Capital. In accompanying tweets consisting of a series of videos she accused top executives at the company of “drunken orgies”.
Later, she shared screenshots of a WhatsApp conversation between Ashneer and BharatPe CEO Suhail Sameer, who had allegedly asked for her resignation on the same day her husband went on a three-month voluntary leave.
When contacted, a BharatPe spokesperson said, “As per your query, we can confirm that the services of Madhuri Jain Grover have been terminated in accordance with the terms of her employment agreement.”
Jain’s name cropped up during an ongoing independent audit of BharatPe’s internal processes and systems by Alvarez and Marsal, which was roped in by the Tiger Global-backed startup. The full report is yet to be submitted, said sources.
The removal of Jain from BharatPe comes against the backdrop of Ashneer launching an attack on Kumar. While Ashneer called the governance review under Kumar’s stewardship prejudiced, Jain shared an audio clip on Wednesday alleging that BharatPe co-founder Bhavik Koladiya called Ashneer with Kumar at his side, wanting to meet him without an agenda and abused him.
Kumar, a banking veteran, told TOI that all allegations against him are baseless.
Sources, however, told TOI that while the Ashneer’s tenure at BharatPe is being reviewed, the co-founder has dug in his heels to prepare for a long-drawn battle, including appointing law firms and filing an arbitration plea with the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) claiming that the investigation against him is illegal.
The Grovers first sparked controversy when a leaked audio call clip allegedly featuring Ashneer abusing and giving death threats to a Kotak employee for failing to provide funding for the Nykaa IPO on October 28 went viral. Ashneer, a former Kotak employee himself, called the clip fake.
But the developments soon assumed significance when a legal notice sent by the Grovers to banker Uday Kotak and to three members of the bank’s senior leadership team, surfaced.
The notice, dated October 30, sought compensation, claiming that the duo planned to invest Rs 500 crore in Nykaa through the bank’s IPO financing services. Kotak Mahindra Bank on January 9 threatened to initiate legal action against the Grovers for alleged use of unparliamentary language and threat to the lender’s employees.
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