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Synopsis

On Tuesday, the Delhi High Court granted permission to, co-founder and ex-director of BharatPe, Ashneer Grover to visit the UK and Qatar. The bench of Justice Sanjeev Narula granted the permission despite strong opposition from the counsel for the Union contending that India does not have an extradition treaty with Qatar. 

The observations were made in a writ petition filed by Ashneer Grover against the look out circulars issued by the Economic Offences Wing in November 2023 against him and his wife. Per the prosecution, Grover and his wife, using false invoices and illegal documents, siphoned off INR 81 crores from the company. 

Counsel for Union informed the court that the current application was for an event organized by the Institute of Charter Accountants of India. It was contended that while Grover was invited, he was not invited by the ICAI but by a private individual. 

Previously, Grover had filed a plea seeking permission to visit the USA to meet his extended family and attend the National Student Leadership Conference at the University of California, Berkeley with his son. Justice Subramonium Prasad, through an order dated 24 May 2024, approved the request with specific conditions. “This Court is inclined to consider the suggestion given by the learned Counsel for the Petitioner and is of the opinion that if one of the spouse remains in the country, the possibility of the other spouse not returning back is remote“, the court observed. 

The court also stressed that “The purpose of opening a Look Out Circular against a person is to ensure that the investigation is not thwarted“. 

The court also referred the dispute between BharatPe and Ashneer Grover to arbitration. BharatPe argued that Grover, during his tenure, had access to confidential company information, which he allegedly disclosed on social media, violating the confidentiality agreement. The court ordered that the arbitration concerning the confidentiality breach be conducted under the Delhi International Arbitration Centre (DIAC), adhering strictly to the employment contract.

Background:

The dispute had intensified in recent months, with BharatPe filing a petition to prevent Grover from publicly disclosing the company’s internal matters. Following this, Grover removed the controversial posts and issued an apology.

In April 2024, Bhavik Koladiya, a co-founder of the company, sought an injunction against Grover concerning 16,110 shares that had been transferred to Grover in December 2022, for which payment was still pending.

In December 2023, another co-founder, Shashvat Nakrani, also sought to restrain Ashneer Grover from selling or transferring shares that Nakrani had previously sold to him. Nakrani’s objection centered on the transfer of his shares to Grover, with Nakrani asserting that he had not received the payment, despite Grover’s claim of having paid in cash.

For Petitioner: Advocates Giriraj Subramanium, Akhilesh Talluri, Siddhant Juyal, Joy Banerjee, Veda Singh, Ravi Pathak and Urvashi Singh
For Union: Standing Counsel Santosh Kumar Tripathi and Additional Standing Counsel Amol Sinha with Advocates Rishabh Srivastava, Kshitiz Garg, Ashvini Kumar and Chavi Lazarus
For Complainant: Advocates Parvez Memon, Mrinal Bharti, Chirag Naik, and Swapnil Srivastava.

Case Title:  Ashneer Grover v Union Of India & Ors. (W.P.(C) 1430/2024)