Shark Tank’s Ashneer Grover likely to get fired from BharatPe on fraud charges: report

Shark Tank India’s Ashneer Grover is in a soup. The BharatPe co-founder and managing director is likely going to be fired from the company under suspicion of fraud. 

As per a report in Live Mint, BharatPe has hired a new law firm and is conducting an investigation into the matter. The report quotes two sources attached with the process. The results of the investigation are expected in two months.

Ashneer’s wife, Madhuri Jain, who is the head of controls at BharatPe has also been fired, a source told the daily. Madhuri owned a fashion boutique before she joined BharatPe. “At times, the company did try to look at hiring a qualified CFO (chief financial officer), but Grover turned down that decision,” the source said.

However, BharatPe denied that the company had fired 15 employees. “The board of BharatPe has not terminated the services of any employee at this stage. Reports suggesting any termination are baseless and untrue. The board remains committed to an independent and thorough audit process. No action has been taken or will be taken till the audit has been completed. We again urge the media not to speculate in advance of the report and make a judgement based on uninformed sources,” the company said in a statement.

Ashneer is one of the seven ‘sharks’ on Shark Tank India, Sony Entertainment Television’s new show that launched in December. He is joined on the show by other sharks such as Lenskart’s Peyush Bansal, Emcure Pharmaceuticals’ Namita Thapar, MamaEarth’s Ghazal Alagh, Shaadi.com’s Anupam Mittal, boAt’s Aman Gupta and SUGAR Cosmetics’ Vineeta Singh.

Also read: Shark Tank’s Ashneer tells pitcher ‘naukri dhoond’, Namita asks him to be nicer

Ashneer is known on the show for his blunt responses to pitchers asking for investments in their businesses. While some fans support his no-nonsense approach, others seem to be put off by it. 

The show’s first season ends this week with all seven sharks coming together.