Ashneer Grover, the former managing director of BharatPe, and his wife Madhuri Jain were apprehended by the Delhi Police on Thursday night as they were on the verge of departing for New York. This development comes amid heightened scrutiny into accusations of financial fraud against the couple. The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Delhi Police recently submitted a status report to the Delhi High Court concerning alleged financial irregularities at BharatPe involving Grover and his family, leading to the issuance of a lookout circular for the couple earlier in the week.
Upon interception, Grover and Jain were instructed to return home and were subsequently served with a summons on Friday morning. Importantly, they have not been arrested at this point. Delhi Police are eager to interrogate the couple regarding significant transactions uncovered during the scrutiny of their bank accounts, with the purported fraud amount potentially exceeding ₹81 crore, as indicated by a senior officer.
The EOW\’s investigation brought to light that Madhuri Jain, formerly responsible for controls at BharatPe, received substantial sums from her father, mother, and brother. Additionally, it was revealed that Grover transferred nearly ₹46 crore from one of his accounts to his father\’s account between 2019 and 2022.
In response to these developments, Sindhu Pillai, the Joint Commissioner of Police (EOW), conveyed that the couple was detained before a security check and instructed to return to their residence in Delhi to participate in the investigation at the EOW office the following week. The lookout circular was enacted to restrict their international travel, although no arrests have been made thus far.
Despite not responding to a query sent via WhatsApp, Grover confirmed the EOW summons on a social networking platform. He acknowledged the lookout circular issued during immigration, revealing that he had traveled abroad four times since the filing of the FIR in May. Grover expressed his willingness to cooperate upon receiving the summons on Friday morning.
BharatPe terminated the employment of Grover and Jain early last year in light of allegations of financial misconduct. A previous report by Mint highlighted that recruitment firms linked to Grover and his family had utilized backdated invoices to divert funds for services not provided to the fintech unicorn, according to the EOW\’s investigation.
