NEW DELHI: An Economic Offences Wing (EoW) investigation has corroborated most of the allegation of irregularities levelled by BharatPe against its former founder and managing director Ashneer Grover and his wife Madhuri Jain, who was heading the Human Resource (HR) division of the company.
In a status report submitted in the Delhi High Court, the EoW has said that its investigation found Ashneer Grover and Madhuri Jain diverted Rs 7.6 crore from BharatPe through eight bogus HR consultants, which were all owned by family members of Madhuri Jain.
The EoW investigation revealed that invoices raised to five of the HR consultancies were back-dated. In fact, some of the invoices had mentioned bank accounts of the five firms on dates when the accounts were not even operational, establishing that fake invoices were created at a later stage after the accounts were opened. The EoW said that these accounts were opened with the sole purpose of siphoning off of funds from the company.
Investigation revealed that Madhuri Jain would pass on the information of employees directly recruited by the company to her brother and father, who would then show that these employees were recruited through HR consultancies, owned by the family members of Madhuri Jain.
The investigation also found that Madhuri Jain would then receive amounts in crores from her father, mother and brother. In the course of its investigation, the EoW also questioned some of the employees who were shown to be recruited through consultancies owned by Madhuri Jain’s family members. The EoW said that all the employees questioned unanimously said they were recruited in the company directly and no HR consultancies ever contacted them.
The EoW is still looking into the allegation by BharatPe that Ashneer Grover and Madhuri Jain reversed input tax credit (without informing the company board) to GST department claimed against fake and fictitious invoices raised by bogus vendors.
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Earlier in January this year, the fintech unicorn had filed a civil suit and a criminal complaint against Grover, his wife Madhuri Jain, and other family members for misappropriation of company funds. The company also filed a criminal complaint with the EOW on 17 counts, including cheating, siphoning, criminal breach of trust and embezzlement of funds, against Grover and family.
‘Grover, wife diverted Rs 7.6 cr from BharatPe’
In a status report submitted in the Delhi HC, the EoW said its probe found Ashneer Grover and Madhuri Jain diverted Rs 7.6 crore from BharatPe via eight bogus HR consultants, owned by family members of Madhuri Jain