Here is how close relatives helped Grover siphon off BharatPe funds

A total expenditure of Rs 53.25 crore was made towards at least 30 vendors that did not exist and BharatPe had incurred a loss of Rs 10.97 crore in those dealings.

New Delhi: Amid the hullabaloo over Ashneer and Madhuri Jain Grover and their tussle with BharatPe, the admin head at the fintech firm who was Madhuri Jain’s close relative and allegedly involved in the misappropriation of funds, was also sacked.

Deepak Jagdishram Gupta, who is Madhuri Jain’s brother-in-law, worked as admin head and reported to head of controls Madhuri Jain, who, in turn, reported directly to Co-founder and Managing Director Ashneer Grover. They were allegedly involved in siphoning of funds via creating bogus vouchers and inflated vendor bills.

According to media reports, the Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI) had conducted a search operation at BharatPe’s head office on October 21, 2021.

Gupta had told the GST team that the vendors on whom details are sought “do not exist”.

A total expenditure of Rs 53.25 crore was made towards at least 30 vendors that did not exist and BharatPe had incurred a loss of Rs 10.97 crore in those dealings.

According to media reports, Madhuri Jain herself received invoices for payments and forwarded them to the accounts team. These invoices were created by Shwetank Jain, who is her brother.

According to BharatPe, Grover, his wife and their relatives were engaged in extensive misappropriation of funds and grossly abused company money “to fund their lavish lifestyles”.

“The Grover family and their relatives engaged in extensive misappropriation of company funds, including, but not limited to, creating fake vendors through which they siphoned money away from the company’s expense account and grossly abused company expense accounts in order to enrich themselves and fund their lavish lifestyles,” the company had said in an earlier statement.

BharatPe had earlier sacked Madhuri Jain over allegations of financial irregularities during her tenure at the company as head of controls. On the other hand, Grover decided to quit right before the crucial Board meeting to grill him over misappropriation of funds.

According to sources, the Grovers allegedly spent company money on expensive business class tickets for the entire family for vacationing abroad, beauty/skin treatments, buying electronic items, providing house staff salaries (driver/maids), 5-star dinners, etc.

The Grovers have also bought another property worth Rs 30-35 crore in an upscale condominium in Gurugram, said sources. Grover and his family live in Panchsheel Park, a posh locality in south Delhi. His huge 18,000 square foot mansion is reported to be worth at least Rs 25-30 crore.

“As a result of his misdeeds, (Ashneer) Grover is no longer an employee, a founder, or a director of the company,” the company had said.

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