BharatPe co-founder Ashneer Grover, wife, kin accused of forging invoices worth crores: Report

The ongoing probe by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) into suspected fraudulent activities at BharatPe has uncovered several unexplained transactions.

These transactions, reportedly involving co-founder Ashneer Grover, his wife and former head of controls at BharatPe Madhuri Jain Grover, and her family, were allegedly made to fake human resource consultancies, reported NDTV.

According to the EOW's findings presented in the Delhi High Court, the individuals involved allegedly used retroactive invoices to transfer BharatPe's funds as commission for hiring services.

The report reveals payments of around Rs 7.6 crore for fake HR consultancies and an additional Rs 1.66 crore as penalty to GST authorities. Furthermore, an estimated Rs 71.76 crore was purportedly siphoned off through sham transactions.

The ongoing investigation suggests that the total sum involved in these fraudulent transactions could exceed Rs 81 crore.

The EOW's report details significant monetary transfers into the account of Madhuri Jain from her family members: approximately Rs 5 crore from her father Suresh Jain, Rs 3 crore from her mother Santosh Jain, and Rs 2 crore from her brother Shwetank Jain.

Madhuri Jain was dismissed from her role at BharatPe in 2022 following a forensic audit that uncovered multiple discrepancies. Subsequently, Ashneer Grover stepped down from his CEO position in March 2022.

"Further, scrutiny of account no. [redacted] (belonging to alleged Ashneer Grover) revealed that the petitioner Ashneer Grover transferred a sum of ₹ 46 crore (approx.) in the account of his father Ashok Grover from 2019 to 2022. These huge transactions are to be verified and their purpose/end user to be ascertained," said EOW.

Earlier this year, the EOW registered a first information report (FIR) against the Grovers under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, including charges of criminal breach of trust, cheating, dishonesty, and forgery.

BharatPe's complaint to the EOW alleges that Ashneer Grover and his family are responsible for financial losses amounting to approximately Rs 81.3 crore, incurred through unauthorised payments to alleged fake HR consultants and other related accusations.