The Delhi Police Economic Offences Wing (EOW) has taken Deepak Gupta, a relative of Ashneer Grover into custody over allegations of misappropriating funds from the fintech firm. Deepak Gupta is the former Managing Director and co-founder of BharatPe. He is being held at EOW Police Station and is scheduled to appear before the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) at Saket Court. Authorities are likely to request his custody to continue their investigation into the matter.
The arrest of Deepak Gupta is a major development in the ongoing legal battle between BharatPe and Ashneer Grover. The conflict started after Grover was ousted from the company in 2022 due to accusations of financial misconduct and alleged misuse of company resources, according to ANI.
Gupta is married to Madhuri Grover’s sister. Madhuri is the wife of Ashneer Grover and was formerly the head of controls at BharatPe before her termination. Gupta was arrested on the night of September 19. In December 2022, BharatPe filed a criminal complaint against five individuals, including Ashneer Grover, Madhuri Grover, Shwetank Jain (Madhuri’s brother), Suresh Jain (Ashneer’s father-in-law), and Deepak Gupta, who is related to both Ashneer and Madhuri.
The Economic Offences Wing (EOW), last month made its first arrest in the case, taking Amit Kumar Bansal into custody. He is accused of being part of a group that operated fake companies which received Rs 72 crore in payments from BharatPe’s former directors between 2019 and 2021. In May 2023, the EOW filed a First Information Report (FIR) against Ashneer Grover, his wife Madhuri and their relatives Deepak Gupta, Suresh Jain, and Shwetank Jain related to a fraud case involving Rs 81 crore.
In a related development, the Delhi High Court has granted Ashneer Grover and his wife, Madhuri permission to travel abroad after they challenged a ‘Look Out Circular’ issued by the EOW that had limited their movement. The court approved their trip to the United Kingdom from September 28 to October 7, followed by a visit to Doha from October 17 to 20 where Ashneer is set to speak at several events, according to reports.
