Delhi High Court Restrains Ashneer Grover From Making Third Party Rights In Shares Given By BharatPe Co-Founder Bhavik Koladiya

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday restrained BharatPe's Former Managing Director Ashneer Grover from making any third party rights or interest in the 16,110 shares transferred to him by fintech company's co-founder Bhavik Koladiya.

Justice Prateek Jalan passed the order on the interim application filed by Koladiya in his suit against Grover.

The court restrained Grover from making any third party rights in the suit shares pending disposal of the suit.

Justice Jalan clarified that the observation made in the interim order is recorded only for disposal of the interim application and is not intended to prejudice the parties at the trial.

The suit filed by Koladiya seeks to restrain Grover from creating any third party rights in respect of the shares in BharatPe.

Last year, Grover gave a statement that he will not make any third party interest in the shares in question.

The fintech company was found by Koladiya in 2017 along with another co-founder Shashvat Nakrani. Thereafter, Grover joined the company in 2018 as the third co-founder.

As reported by Mint, when Grover joined the company, he got 32% equity, Nakrani held 25.5% whereas Koladiya still remained the largest shareholder in the company with a 42.5% stake.

”However, six months later in December 2018 just before Sequoia came on board as an investor, Koladiya's name went missing from the founders' list “owing to discomfort on the part of large institutional investors to have a person with a jail term in the US,” the report states.

Notably, this year, a division bench ordered an expeditious trial of the suit filed by BharatPe's co-founder Shashvat Nakrani seeking to restrain Grover from alienating, transferring, or creating any third-party rights in the “unpaid shares” bought from him.

The single judge had refused to restrain Grover from creating any third-party rights in the unpaid shares, as it rejected Nakrani's interim application in the suit.

Title: BHAVIK KOLADIYA v. ASHNEER GROVER & ANR.

Citation: 2024 LiveLaw (Del) 519