'Not a flight risk': Ashneer Grover on being stopped at Delhi airport

BharatPe co-founder Ashneer Grover on Friday said he is not a 'flight risk' after being stopped by immigration officials at the Delhi International Airport. Grover was on his way to the U.S. on November 16.

The ousted co-founder of the fintech firm said he had not received any communication or summons from the Economic Offences Wing of Delhi Police since a first information report (FIR) was filed in May this year till 8 am on November 17, seven hours after he returned home from the airport.

A lookout circular (LoC) has been issued against Grover. "At immigration they said LoC laga hua hai sir - EOW se check kar ke batate hai," Grover wrote on X.

"I found it strange as have travelled 4 times internationally since FIR filed in May - never been a problem and I had not even been summoned once," he said.

"EOW folks directed Immigration to let us out so that we can return home. Today morning EOW summon was home delivered - will cooperate as always," he wrote.

This comes five months after the Economic Offences Wing of Delhi Police registered an FIR against Grover, his wife Madhuri and other family members for allegedly misappropriating the company's funds and causing a loss of ₹81.28 crore.

The FIR named Madhuri Jain Grover, BharatPe's former head of controls, as the key accused of using self-created 'fake' and 'forged invoices' for her personal enrichment. Her family members Shwetank Jain and Suresh Jain were also named in the FIR. Another family member Deepak Gupta, who used to head administration, logistics and fulfilment at BharatPe as its head of procurement, was also named in the 18-page police report.

Several 'irregularities' and 'illegalities' led to the present complaint against the accused persons, according to the FIR. These include illegitimate payments to the tune of ₹7.6 crore to bogus HR consultants on the basis of 86 false and forged invoices.

The FIR mentions inflated and undue payments through ‘passthrough vendors’ connected to the accused persons to the detriment of BharatPe. There are also allegations of sham transactions and embezzlement of ₹71.76 crore against the accused. These include 'dishonest' and 'illegal payments' to travel agencies connected to accused persons on the basis of false and fabricated invoices for services already availed from genuine providers.

The FIR has been registered on eight counts of serious criminal offences including forgery, cheating, criminal breach of trust and destruction of evidence among others. If convicted, Grover and Madhuri and others can face up to anything between 10 years and life imprisonment.

In 2022, BharatPe initiated 'necessary action' against its ousted co-founder Ashneer Grover to claw back his restricted shares as per the shareholders' agreement.