Ashneer takes a dig at media as BharatPe sues him, family for Rs 88.6 cr fraud

Ashneer Grover took a dig at the media saying that how long are they going to sell the same story about him, after the Delhi High Court issued notice and summons to BharatPe's former Managing Director and his kin in a plea filed by the company seeking orders to restrain them from making defamatory statements against the company.

In its suit, running into 2,800 pages, BharatPe has claimed damages worth Rs 88.67 crore from Grover, his wife, and his brother for alleged cheating and misappropriation of funds.

"Come on Press: Ek story kitni baar bechoge! Saal ke shuru mein bhi same - end mein bhi same. Even I am bored with this (How many times are you going to do the same story? It was the same at the beginning of the year, and same now)," he tweeted in a frustrated tone late on Thursday.

"Kuchh to naya karo -- paise ke liye creativity mat kill karo yaar (do something new, do not kill creativity for money)" He added, without mentioning BharatPe or the lawsuit against him or his family members to avoid the court's wrath.

The next court hearing in the BharatPe case is in January.

The damages sought include a claim for payment made against the invoices of non-existent vendors amounting to Rs 71.7 crore, a claim for Rs 1.66 crore penalty paid to GST authorities, payments totalling Rs 7.6 crore made to vendors purportedly providing recruitment services, payments of Rs 1.85 crore made to a furnishings company, payments for personal expenditures up to Rs 59.7 lakh and payment of Rs 5 crore damages for loss of reputation to the company caused by tweets and other statements made by them.

In its suit, the fintech company claimed that a Rajasthan-based travel company had raised invoices for foreign tours twice, once for Grover and his wife and the second time for their children. The family also used the company's funds to travel abroad.

The suit further claimed that the Grovers used company funds to pay the rent and security deposit of their posh duplex and for home appliances, too. The duplex was first taken over by Grovers as the company's guest house but eventually they started living there, the suit claimed.

BharatPe has filed an interim relief application seeking disclosure of assets of Grover and his family members, and an interim injunction restraining them from making defamatory/derogatory statements about the fintech company, its directors, employees and/or publicising the same.

Meanwhile, Ashneer has written his memoir called 'Doglapan' (double standards) - 'The Hard Truth about Life and Start-ups' which will be available from December 16.

Billed as an "unfettered story of Ashneer Grover -- the favourite and misunderstood poster boy of Startup India", the memoir is being called a "raw, gut-wrenching in its honesty and completely from the heart, storytelling at its finest".

After allegedly swindling fintech platform BharatPe, Ashneer and his wife Madhuri Jain Grover have also formed a new company called 'Third Unicorn Private Ltd', and are set to launch a third startup.

The nature of the startup is not known yet.