‘Your Brother Stole All the Money’: BharatPe CEO Tells Ashneer Grover’s Sister

Ashneer Grover, co-founder and Managing Director (MD) of BharatPe, on Monday, 28 February, resigned from the fintech firm with immediate effect.

(Photo altered by The Quint)

In a post on LinkedIn, a BharatPe employee, on 7 April, requested the company's management to pay his salary for the month of March, prompting replies from former managing director (MD) Ashneer Grover and his sister.

Aashima Grover called BharatPe's management a “shameless bunch” to which CEO Suhail Sameer said that the company doesn't have enough money since her brother (Ashneer) stole it all.

"Behen - tere bhai ne saara Paisa Chura liya (Sister, your brother stole all the money. Very little left to pay salaries."

Suhail Sameer, BharatPe CEO

Sameer later apologised for the comment, "In hindsight, it was out of line. We are already working on past employees' full and final being paid out. My comment was a reaction to a particular statement, not the post."

"Dear Suhail and Shashvat Sir, we haven’t received our salary for March month yet despite following so many times on email and visiting the office," Karan Sarki, a senior IT associate at BharatPe, wrote on LinkedIn.

"All the staff of BharatPe is enjoying office paid trip to Goa and we engraved employees are fighting for their salaries and job. What kind of leaders you are," he added.

Ashneer Grover has since written a letter to BharatPe's board seeking an apology from Sameer for comments against his sister Aashima, according to Moneycontrol.

His wife Madhuri Jain Grover was sacked late February and Ashneer resigned from the company shortly after, following allegations of fraud.

‘Sameer Should Be Put On Leave, Chairman Should Resign'

"As a Board which under the Chairmanship of Rajnish Kumar has claimed to be the epitome of corporate governance, I would want to ask what action is the Board going to take against Suhail Sameer?" Ashneer Grover wrote in his letter marked to BharatPe's board and investors.

He reportedly threatened a defamation case and demanded a written apology "from Suhail to me, my sister and the Board".

"Going by precedents and self proclaimed high standards of this Board, the CEO should be immediately served a show cause notice for his despicable public behaviour and immediately put on leave of absence to manage the damage on the Brand of the company."

Ashneer Grover

He also called for Chairman Rajnish Kumar's resignation, accusing him of condoning the "life threat" that Bhavik Koladiya, one of the original co-founders of the company, allegedly made to Grover.

He added that the current management was acting like "hooligans."

Grover and his wife had both gone on a two-month leave, after an audio clip went viral in which he allegedly threatened and hurled abuses at a Kotak Mahindra Bank employee for failing to secure shares during Nykaa's IPO.

Grover initially called it a "fake audio by some scamster trying to extort funds," but later deleted his tweet. The bank said that it was exploring legal action against him for using inappropriate language against its staff.

An internal investigation found Grover, and certain members of his family guilty of financial fraud, BharatPe said in March. He insists he is innocent and a victim of baseless and targeted attacks by BharatPe's management.

(With inputs from Moneycontrol)