BharatPe’s Ashneer Grover takes voluntary leave from company

Bengaluru: Ashneer Grover, cofounder and managing director of BharatPe, told the company’s board on Wednesday that he has decided to take a voluntary leave of absence until the end of March. Grover has been in the midst of a controversy after an audio clip of his purported phone conversation with a employee was leaked earlier this month.

“For now, the board has accepted Ashneer’s decision, which we agree is in the best interests of the company, our employees and investors, and the millions of merchants we support each day,” BharatPe said in a statement. The company will continue to be led by chief executive Suhail Sameer, who was appointed to the post in August.

In the first week of January, an anonymous handle on Twitter — ‘bongo babu’ — had posted a SoundCloud link to an audio clip of a man – allegedly Grover – abusing and threatening the bank employee over the phone after missing out on Nykaa’s initial public offering.

On January 16 ET
reported about Grover’s past indiscretions and fallouts, and the silence of his company’s board. The following day, ET also
reported on emails that highlighted his public spat with Sequoia Capital India’s managing director Harshjit Sethi in August 2020, further raising questions on Grover’s behaviour.

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