Delhi HC summons Ashneer Grover and his family members

9 Dec 2022 , 10:09 AM

Ashneer Grover, the television personality and ousted co-founder of financial startup BharatPe, as well as his wife Madhuri Jain Grover and other family members, have all received notices and summonses from the Delhi High Court, preventing them from speaking negatively about the fintech company.

Additionally, summonses were sent to Grover’s brother, father, and brother-in-law. Justice Navin Chawla handed the Grovers two weeks’ time to file replies to BharatPe’s petition. January 9, 2023, has been set aside for the subject.

The change happened after BharatPe sued Grover and his family for their disparaging remarks about the unicorn. The 2,800-page lawsuit stated Grover, his wife, and other family members fabricated fraudulent bills, engaged fictional contractors for supplying services to the company, and overcharged the company for recruitment. BharatPe claimed damages totalling over Rs88.67 crore against Grover, his wife, and his brother.

Included in the damages are claims for payment of Rs71.7 crore against invoices from nonexistent vendors, Rs1.66 crore in penalties paid to the GST authorities, Rs7.6 crore in payments to vendors for allegedly providing recruitment services, and Rs5 crore in losses for the company’s reputation as a result of Grover and his family members’ comments and tweets.

During the court, Grover, his wife, and other family members were accused of waging a “vicious and venomous” campaign against the business, according to a prominent attorney and former attorney general of India Mukul Rohatgi, who was representing BharatPe. According to news agency PTI, Grover and his wife’s attorney said they never received a copy of the lawsuit.

Apart from the suit with Delhi High Court, BharatPe has filed a second charge against the mercurial television personality, his wife, and other family members alleging 17 counts of fraud with the Economic Offences Wing. The Grovers are accused of theft, fraud, theft by deception, embezzlement, and syphoning of funds.

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