Why were Ashneer Grover and wife Madhuri Jain stopped at Delhi airport?

Ashneer Grover, who co-founded BharatPe, and his wife Madhuri Jain were stopped at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi on Friday (November 17) due to a lookout circular issued against them. They were on their way to New York.

The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) is Ashneer Grover for potential financial irregularities involving fake invoices and suspicious transactions.

The investigation centers around an alleged payment of around Rs 7.6 crore to fictitious HR companies.

What

• The Delhi Police's Economic Offences Wing (EOW) stopped them on Thursday night at the airport as part of an investigation, reported ET.
• They were asked to go back home and participate in the probe at the EOW office next week.
• EOW requested a lookout circular (LoC) against Ashneer Grover and his wife, Madhuri Jain.

Why

• The EOW had filed a case in June, accusing the couple and other family members of misusing funds and causing losses of Rs 81 crore to Resilient Innovations Private Limited, the company behind BharatPe.
• An LoC is a letter used by authorities to check if a person is wanted by law enforcement.
• It prevents the person from leaving the country.
• This week, an LoC was issued against the couple as part of the ongoing investigation into alleged fraud at BharatPe.

Also Read: BharatPe ex-CEO Ashneer Grover in fresh trouble with EOW over fake multi-crore invoices

The scam

• Earlier this week, EOW reported to the Delhi High Court, pointing out discrepancies in vendor invoices.
• The EOW mentioned that certain human resource (HR) consultancies associated with BharatPe were established to divert funds from the fintech unicorn.
• Eight HR consultancies connected to Madhuri Jain's relatives, the former head of controls at BharatPe, are under investigation in the early stages, as per the EOW.

The couple, Ashneer Grover and Madhuri Jain, have been summoned to appear before the EOW next week.