High Court orders Ashneer Grover, and his wife to give ₹80 cr security for US travel

Delhi High Court has ordered former Bharat Pe Managing Director Ashneer Grover and his wife Madhuri Jain Grover to pay Rs. 80 million before they travel to the United States. The court specified that this security must be in the form of real estate. The court also ordered the couple to submit their Emirates cards to the court to prevent them from visiting the United Arab Emirates (UAE) while holding “golden visas”

High Court’s Conditions Imposed

The couple were allowed to travel separately to the US for their children’s summer school after the court asked the Financial Crimes Unit to outline the terms of their trip. They have to share details like stay, hotel, route and phone number with the court and investigating agencies. In addition, the court ordered the couple not to create third-party rights over their Bharat Pe shares.

The Golden Visa is a 10-year residence permit for foreigners that allows them to live, work, or study in the United Arab Emirates. While the Grovers, who are accused of fraud, can go to summer school for their children separately in the United States, the court asked on May 22 the financial crimes wing to restore the travel conditions.

Ashneer, Madhuri allowed to travel to the US

Justice Subramanium Prasad has said that one of the Grovers will have to stay back in India as a “mortgage” while the other travels.

Grover will take off for the US on May 26 and return to India on June 14. Jain will travel on June 15 and return on July 1. The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) questioned to the travel ask, saying the couple lived overseas and undermined to run away. According to him, the investigation against them was progressed and at a pivotal stage.

They, particularly Madhuri Jain, did not participate with the examination, the EOW said, including that it found suspicious exchanges worth crores.

What Happened?

For laggards, Fintech platform Bharat Pe removed Ashneer Grover from all positions in the company in 2022, citing allegations of misappropriation. Madhuri Jain Grover was the chief operating officer of the company. The pair left the company in early 2022, and Ashneer has been fighting a lawsuit ever since.

“The Economic Offenses Wing (EOW) on Wednesday enrolled a to begin with data report (FIR) against previous Bharat Pe overseeing executive Ashneer Grover, his spouse Madhuri Jain Grover, and family individuals counting Deepak Gupta, Suresh Jain, and Shwetank Jain,” a Delhi Police official said.

“A complaint was recorded by Strong Advancements Pvt Ltd (Bharat Pe) in EOW, in which complainant charged that Ashneer Grover (author and ex-director of complainant company), his spouse Madhuri Jain Grover and other representatives were included in criminal misappropriation of company’s stores on the premise of different forged/fabricated records and resultant installments to non-existent firms/vendors and HR Consultancy firms without rendering any services,” a Delhi Police official said.

The complainant charged that the “criminal acts” committed by Grover, his spouse and other representatives had caused a misfortune of around Rs 81 crore to the company. “As per the complaint, these criminal acts had caused a wrongful misfortune of approximately Rs 81 crore to the complainant company,” said the official.

The authorities too educated that on the premise of a point-by-point request into the matter, a case was enrolled on Wednesday beneath significant segments of the Indian Corrective Code. They said the FIR had been enrolled beneath 20/406/408/409/467/468/471/120B areas of IPC.

Ashneer Grover and Madhuri Jain are currently under investigation for fraud allegations that surfaced in late 2023. They are accused of misappropriating Bharat Pe funds and making payments to allegedly bogus HR consultancies.

Ashneer Grover and Madhuri Jain cannot take off the nation without the court’s authorization as a Look Out Circular (LOC) has been issued against them on the ask of the EOW.