BharatPe files petition against Ashneer Grover for divulging confidential information

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Fintech major BharatPe has filed a fresh petition against the former co-founder of BharatPe, Ashneer Grover, in the Delhi High Court, seeking an injunction against him for sharing ‘confidential information’ related to the company.

This comes at a time when Grover had tweeted about the equity allocation and secondary components undertaken during the company’s Series E funding round, which was led by Tiger Global, and saw participation of Dragoneer Investor group and others. The $370-million fundraise valued the fintech at $2.86 billion.

BharatPe’s counsel argued that Grover had violated his obligations under an employment agreement by putting out confidential information relating to the company.

Also read: Not true that BharatPe isn’t growing fast: Chairman, BharatPe

BharatPe argued that Grover has a pattern of making defamatory statements in social-media posts, which he later deletes. In response, Grover’s counsel apologised for his conduct. Justice Sachin Dutta heard the plea.

The former co-founder admitted that he had access to confidential information post-termination of his employment but added that he requires the information to defend himself in various proceedings, including the criminal investigation by the economic offences wing of the Delhi Police.

The court accepted Grover’s apology and said he should not divulge confidential information publicly henceforth. On Grover continuing to hold confidential company, the court said it is a matter of interpretation of a clause in the employment agreement, and a decision will be taken up at the next date of hearing.

Last week, Grover and his wife Jain were also stopped at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport, based on a lookout circular issued against them.

Grover appeared in front of Delhi Police’s Economic Offences Wing (EOW) earlier this week for questioning in the alleged fraud case. This happened after a status report from the EOW showed that at least eight human resource (HR) consultancy firms had links to relatives of Grover’s wife Madhuri Jain, who was formerly the head of controls at the fintech company.