Ashneer Grover, the co-founder and managing director of BharatPe, has resigned from the firm and its board of directors amid the ongoing scandal surrounding an audio clip of him allegedly abusing a Kotak Mahindra Bank employee that appeared online. Grover claimed he had been ‘vilified’ and handled in the’most disrespectful manner’ since the start of the year in his email to the fintech’s board. “I write this with a heavy heart since I am being forced to leave a firm that I founded today.”
“I say with my head held high that today this company stands as a leader in the fintech world. Since the beginning of 2022, unfortunately, I’ve been embroiled in baseless and targeted attacks on me and my family by a few individuals who are ready not only to harm me and my reputation but also harm the reputation of the company, which ostensibly they are trying to protect,” the fintench unicorn founder has written in his resignation letter.
He added: “I am now wasting myself fighting a long, lonely battle against my own investors and management. Unfortunately, in this battle, the management has lost of what is actually at stake – BharatPe.”
Meanwhile, Grover failed to get an emergency relief from the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC), allowing an investigation on alleged financial wrongdoings and governance lapses at the fintech to continue. Earlier, he had filed an arbitration plea to stop a probe into alleged financial irregularities in the company.
In his ongoing settlement talks with the corporation and its owners, Grover reportedly sought indemnification from any future action against him. Grover took a voluntary leave of absence from January until the end of March, and the BhartPe board supported his decision. Suhail Sameer, the company’s chief executive, will remain in charge of the management team, according to the corporation.
