Delhi High Court Cancels LOC Against Ashneer Grover, Wife After Quashing Of EOW FIR

The Delhi High Court yesterday ordered cancellation of the look out circular (LOC) issued against former BharatPe Managing Director Ashneer Grover and his wife Madhuri Jain Grover after quashing of Delhi Police's Economic Offences Wing's (EOW) FIR registered last year.

Justice Sanjeev Narula passed the order after he was informed that a coordinate bench had yesterday quashed the FIR.

The quashing of FIR was sought by the Grovers on the ground of recent settlement of disputes with the fintech company.

“Although the copy of the order is not available as of now, however, the afore-noted fact is not disputed by the counsel for parties,” the Court said.

It added: “In light of the fact that the underlying FIR has been quashed, the LOC issued by the Respondent No. 3, in the opinion of the Court, would not survive. Accordingly, the present petitions are disposed of with a direction to the Respondents to cancel the LOC against the Petitioners in their records.”

The LOC was issued by Bureau of Immigration at the instance of Delhi Police's EOW.

The plea seeking quashing of the EOW FIR was filed by Grover and others. The FIR was registered under Sections 406, 408, 409, 420, 467, 468, 471 and 120B of the Indian Penal Code, 1860.

It was registered on the basis of a complaint filed by BharatPe. It was alleged that there was misappropriation of funds and that a loss of about Rs. 80 crores was caused to the fintech company.

The accused in the case were Madhuri Jain Grover, Ashneer Grover, Deepak Jagdishram Gupta, Shwetank Jain and Suresh Jain.

The counsel appearing for the Grovers and others had submitted before the coordinate bench that the matter was settled between the parties vide a settlement agreement entered into on September 30.

Title: ASHNEER GROVER v. UNION OF INDIA & ORS and other connected matter

Citation: 2024 LiveLaw (Del) 1225

Click here to read order