New Delhi: Ashneer Grover, former managing director at BharatPe, and his wife Madhuri Jain were stopped at the Indira Gandhi International Airport Thursday evening while they were travelling to New York, people aware of the development told Mint.
“Ashneer and his wife were going on a vacation to New York and were stopped by the Economic Offences Wing of Delhi police,” a source informed.
A lookout circular (LoC) was issued earlier this week by the EOW amid ongoing investigations against the two for alleged fraud at BharatPe, the officials said.
Sindhu Pillai, joint commissioner of police (EOW), said the couple was travelling to New York. “They were detained before security check and asked to return to their Delhi residence and join the probe at the EOW office at Mandir Marg next week,” she said.
Pillai also said that the LoC was only to detain the couple from travelling abroad. “They have yet not been arrested,” she added.
Mint earlier this week reported that recruitment firms linked to BharatPe co-founder Ashneer Grover and his family members used backdated invoices to siphon off funds for work they never did for the fintech unicorn, according to an investigation by the EOW of Delhi Police.
The probe agency also could not trace many firms to which BharatPe had made vendor payments.
In December 2022, BharatPe filed a criminal complaint against Grover, his wife and her family members, accusing them of perpetrating a ₹81.28 crore fraud. One of the allegations pertained to ₹7.6 crore that BharatPe allegedly paid eight HR consultants linked to the accused persons between 2018 and 2021.
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Aisha Patel is a dedicated Indian correspondent with a deep understanding of the nation’s diverse affairs. With a background in Indian culture, politics, and current events, she provides in-depth analysis and timely reporting on domestic issues within India.
