Sanjay Bhargava has left Elon Musk's Starlink satellite company

Sanjay Bhargava, who was recently recruited as Starlink's India country director, has resigned from the Elon Musk-led satellite startup even before it began operations in the nation.

Bhargava announced his exit in a post on Microsoft-owned professional networking site LinkedIn. "I have stepped down as Country Director and Chairman of the Board of Starlink India for personal reasons. My last working day was December 31, 2021. I will have no comments for individuals and media so please respect my privacy," he said in his LinkedIn post. 

Bhargava's departure comes just weeks after the Department of Telecom (DoT) told Starlink to halt pre-orders until it received licences to operate in the country. All of the company's pre-orders were also ordered to be refunded.

"As has always been the case, you can receive a refund at any time," the company had said in an email (accessed by Reuters) to one of its customers.

"Unfortunately, the timeline for receiving licences to operate is currently unknown, and there are several issues that must be resolved with the licensing framework to allow us to operate Starlink in India," the company said in the email.

"The Starlink team is looking forward to making Starlink available in India as soon as possible," it said.