Fake Multi-Crore Invoices made by BharatPe Ex-CEO Ashneer Grover

The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) probe into the alleged fraud at payments firm BharatPe discovered a slew of unexplained payments made to allegedly fake Human Resource (HR) consultancies by co-founder Ashneer Grover along with his wife and the company’s former head of controls Madhuri Jain Grover and Madhuri Jain’s family members.

According to a status report filed by the EOW at the Delhi High Court, the accused allegedly used backdated invoices to move funds from BharatPe’s accounts for payment of commissions for recruitment services.

A minimum of Rs 7.6 crore was paid to allegedly fraudulent HR consultancy, while Rs 1.66 crore was paid as a penalty to Goods and Services Tax (GST) officials. Another Rs 71.76 crore was reportedly siphoned off through bogus transactions.

As the EOW investigation continues, the total sum alleged to have been involved in these transactions might be considerably over Rs. 81 crore.

Meanwhile, in the course of the investigation, A/c No. [redacted] (belonging to suspected Madhuri Jain/Grover) was scrutinized, and it was discovered that she received huge amounts of about Rs 5 crore, Rs 3 crore, and Rs 2 crore from her father Suresh Jain, mother Santosh Jain, and brother Shwetank Jain, respectively.

Madhuri Jain, the former BharatPe chief of controls, was fired in 2022 after a forensic audit discovered various irregularities. As a result, Ashneer Grover stepped down as CEO in March 2022.

Further, examination of account no. [redacted] (belonging to alleged Ashneer Grover) discovered that the petitioner Ashneer Grover transferred an amount of Rs 46 crore (approx.) in his father Ashok Grover’s account from 2019 to 2022.” “These massive transactions must be verified and their purpose or end-user determined, the EOW stated.

The EOW had earlier this year filed a First Information Report (FIR) under eight sections of the Indian Penal Code, including criminal breach of trust, cheating and dishonesty, and forgery.

In their case, BharatPe claimed that Ashneer Grover and his family caused around Rs 81.3 crore in damage through fraudulent payments to allegedly fake human resource consultants, among other accusations.