A former co-founder and managing director of BharatPe, Ashneer Grover, on Thursday once again hit at the board members of the fintech company. It says snatching the keys and running a corner shop are two different skill-sets.
Grover was stripped of all company titles, last month, over alleged “extensive misappropriation of company funds” and using “company expense accounts” to “enrich themselves and fund their lavish lifestyles”.
In a Twitter post, Grover said, “I just heard BharatPe closed its first quarter of ‘degrowth’ and ‘maximum cash burn’ under able (sic) leadership of Rajnish Kumar and Suhail Sameer”. By placing the word ‘sic’ in the tweet, he is mocking BharatPe’s decision to call the current leadership team “able”.
Grover continued, “markets are the ultimate test & truth.”
So I just heard @bharatpeindia closed it’s first quarter of ‘degrowth’ and ‘maximum cash burn’ under able (sic) leadership of Rajnish Kumar and Suhail Sameer. ‘Chaabi chheenna and hatti chalana do alag alag skills hai !’ Ab Nani yaad aayegi – markets are the ultimate test & truth
— Ashneer Grover (@Ashneer_Grover) April 7, 2022
Commenting on the inadequacy of present board members of the BharatPe, he added, ‘Chaabi chheenna and Hatti chalana do alag alag skills hai!
Grover famously fell out with the BharatPe Board and investors earlier this year after an investigation into his conduct at the company led to the dismissal of his wife Madhuri Jain Grover in February and Grover’s resignation as Managing Director at the start of March.
How did it start?
An audio clip went viral, earlier this year, in which a couple (Ashneer Grover and Madhuri Jain apparently) appeared to abuse a relationship manager from Kotak Mahindra bank. Later, Grover, in a tweet that he deleted, called it fake audio by “some scamster trying to extort funds ($2,40,000 bitcoins)”.
Delhi-based Grover shot to internet fame after being appointed as a judge on the reality show Shark Tank India along with six other venture capitalists. The reality show allowed entrepreneurs to pitch their businesses to the sharks to get investment in return for equity.
In an interview with Economic Times, Grover also cleared up an issue that has plagued BharatPe recently. Bhavik Koladiya has been described as a founder by some in the BharatPe team, while Grover himself described him as nothing more than a contract worker in his resignation email.
However, with rumors of a probe by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Grover clarified that Koladiya’s initial shares in the company were bought by himself, co-founder Sachin Nakrani, Sequoia, and angel investor Beenext during their pre-Series A round.
Grover remains the largest individual shareholder in BharatPe, although the company has made claims that they will try to claw back his ownership in the coming months.
