The drama around Ashner Grover, co-founder of Bharatpe, refuses to die down as the company and its former chief continued to indulge in a public war of words. On Friday, Grover wrote a letter to the company's board seeking action against its chief executive officer (CEO) Suhail Sameer for making offensive remarks against him on social media. In the letter Grover, also known for being an investor at the popular TV show Shark Tank India, sought resignation of chairman Rajnish Kumar.
On Thursday, Karan Sarki, a BharatPe employee wrote a long LinkedIn post that spoke about non-payment of salaries and the company sacking its old staff. He also tagged Grover and Suhail Sameer, who claimed the company didn't have money to pay salaries since Grover stole it all.
"Behen - tere bhai ne saara paisa chura liya (Sister, your brother has stolen all the money). Very little left to pay salaries," Sameer responded. The comment was a reply to Grover's sister Aashima, who called the company's top management 'a shameless bunch' in replies to Sarki's post.
{{/usCountry}}"Behen - tere bhai ne saara paisa chura liya (Sister, your brother has stolen all the money). Very little left to pay salaries," Sameer responded. The comment was a reply to Grover's sister Aashima, who called the company's top management 'a shameless bunch' in replies to Sarki's post.
{{/usCountry}}According to news agency PTI, which has reviewed the letter, Grover said Sameer's language in response to the post is not only defamatory but "also blatantly a public lie and admission of the company being bankrupt by no less than its own CEO and member of 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 a leave of absence to manage the damage on the brand of the company," he also stated, according to PTI.
Grover also demanded that Sameer "conclusively prove" to the board that he was not under the influence of alcohol and drugs when he put the said reply on LinkedIn.
He also sought a written apology from Sameer and, in absence of the same, Gover said he may pursue criminal defamation against the BharatPe CEO and the company.
Sameer's dealings should be audited by an independent auditor and he should only be reinstated as CEO once the report is tabled with the board and it exonerates him of any wrongdoing, he also said.
"Moreover, chairman Rajnish Kumar should immediately resign. The current incident clearly brings out the fact that Rajnish Kumar condoning the life threat to me by Bhavik Koladiya from his own house and all the planned media leaks leading to my resignation in self-respect, have further emboldened the current management to act as hooligans," Grover stated further, as per PTI report.
BharatPe is an Indian fintech company that caters to small merchants and kirana store owners by offering them QR code for UPI payments, Bharat Swipe for card acceptance, and small business financing. The company sacked Grover and his wife Madhuri, who was the managing director, in March for alleged misappropriation of the company's funds.