Delhi Police denies Ashneer Grover, wife nod to travel to UK

The Delhi Police has rejected a representation from Ashneer Grover, the former managing director of BharatPe, and his wife, Madhuri Jain Grover, requesting permission to travel to the UK later this month as guest speakers at the London School of Economics (LSE).

Sources said Ashneer and Madhuri had submitted a representation to the investigation officer of the Delhi Police’s Economic Offences Wing (EOW) in the last week of February, seeking travel permission for the UK from March 9 to March 15 as guest speakers at the LSE and the University of Warwick, among others.

On November 16, 2023, Ashneer and Madhuri, scheduled to travel to the US, were stopped at the Indira Gandhi International Airport – Terminal 3 and informed that a Look-out Circular (LOC) had been issued against them, effective November 6.

The couple then approached the Delhi High Court, seeking to quash the LOC. On February 1, Justice Subramonium Prasad, before whom the matter came up for hearing, listed it for May 8, stating that the investigation in the case registered by the EOW is at a nascent stage.

Justice Prasad, however, said that the petitioners’ application to travel abroad for two days may be considered by the authorities concerned based on the facts of the case.

The EOW had registered an FIR in May last year against the Grovers and other family members for alleged misappropriation of funds and causing losses worth Rs 81 crore to Resilient Innovations Private Limited, which runs the UPI platform BharatPe.

The EOW FIR was registered under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including sections 406 (criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 468 (forgery for the purpose of cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged document), and 120-B (criminal conspiracy).