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New Delhi: On Tuesday, Ashneer Grover, former managing director and co-founder of Bharat Pay, apologized before the Delhi High Court for his social media posts against the company. The Delhi High Court also directed Grover to pay a fine of Rs 2 lakh for his continuous posts against the company, while assuring the court that he would not do so again.
After announcing the fine, Delhi High Court Justice Rekha Palli pulled up Grover for violating the court’s orders. “I am appalled to see the persistent violation of the court’s order,” Justice Palli was quoted as saying by media. Grover, embroiled in a series of controversies, had shared details on social media regarding the equity allocation and secondary components involved in BharatPe’s recent Series E funding round.
The High Court’s verdict on Tuesday comes after BharatPe’s parent company Resilient Innovations filed a fresh case against him in the Delhi HC. Resilient Innovations, the parent company of BharatPe, then took legal action against him by filing a fresh case in the Delhi High Court and sought an injunction to prevent the disclosure of what it claims to be ‘confidential information’ related to the company.
BharatPe’s counsel argued in court, on November 24, that Grover’s actions violated obligations outlined in his employment agreement, asserting that he disclosed confidential information about the company. Resilient Innovations sought an injunction against Grover to prevent disclosure of ‘confidential information’ related to the company.
The case against Grover, who is in a legal battle with BharatPe, came after he shared details about the equity allocation and secondary components involved in BharatPe’s recent funding round. This recent legal action is in addition to an ongoing civil suit filed by BharatPe against Grover and his family members. The suit seeks up to Rs 88.67 crore in damages, alleging embezzlement of funds.
Grover, accompanied by his wife Madhuri Jain, faced questioning by the Delhi Police’s Economic Offences Wing (EOW) last week in connection with the alleged fraud case. The funding round was led by Tiger Global and raised $370 million and valued the company at $2.86 billion.
The police investigation revealed links between at least eight human resource consultancy firms and relatives of Jain, Grover’s wife and former head of controls at BharatPe. BharatPe argued that even though Grover has deleted the post, he violated the obligations in his employment agreement as he disclosed confidential information about the company.
The recent action by the Delhi High Court is in addition to the ongoing civil suit against Grover and his family members. In this civil suit, BharatPe alleged embezzlement of funds and has sought up to Rs 88.67 crore in damages. The duo was stopped at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport on November 17 based on a look-out circular (LoC) issued against them, requested by the EOW.
