Ashneer Grover, Wife Request FIR Quashing After BharatPe Settlement

The Delhi High Court was informed on Monday that fintech firm BharatPe, along with its former co-founder Ashneer Grover and his wife Madhuri Jain Grover, has settled their disputes in a case involving an alleged ₹81 crore fraud.

The parties involved urged Justice Chandra Dhari Singh to quash the FIR filed against the Grovers in light of a settlement agreement reached on September 30.

The court granted the Grovers’ counsel time to file an affidavit confirming compliance with the terms of the settlement, scheduling the next hearing for October 8.

Additionally, the State prosecutor was given 2 days to submit a status report regarding the case.

Senior advocate Mohit Mathur, representing the Grovers and others, stated that all disputes between the complainant, Resilient Innovations Pvt Ltd (which owns BharatPe), and the accused—Ashneer Grover, Madhuri Jain Grover, Deepak Jagdishram Gupta, Shwetank Jain, and Suresh Jain—had been resolved. Resilient Innovations was represented by senior advocate Vikas Pahwa.

The Grovers sought to quash the FIR lodged by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Delhi Police, which included serious charges under various sections of the Indian Penal Code. These included Section 406 for criminal breach of trust, Section 420 for cheating, Sections 467 and 468 for forgery, Section 471 for using forged documents, and Section 120B for criminal conspiracy.

BharatPe alleged that the Grovers and their associates caused damages amounting to approximately ₹81.3 crore through a range of fraudulent activities. These included making illegitimate payments to fictitious human resource consultants, inflating payments through vendors linked to the accused, engaging in sham transactions for input tax credits, paying penalties to GST authorities illegally, and issuing forged invoices.

Madhuri Jain Grover, who was the head of controls at BharatPe, was terminated from her position in 2022 after a forensic audit uncovered multiple irregularities. Following this, Ashneer Grover resigned as CEO in March 2022.

The court’s acceptance of the settlement marks a significant turn in a case that has garnered considerable attention, highlighting ongoing tensions within the fintech industry as it grapples with regulatory scrutiny and internal governance challenges.

The upcoming hearing will be crucial in determining the future implications for the parties involved and the broader impact on BharatPe’s operations.

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