[BREAKING] Ashneer Grover resigns from BharatPe

Ashneer Grover, BharatPe's embattled co-founder and managing director, resigned in an email sent to the company at midnight on March 1.

He has been under investigation for the last couple of months, ever since an audio recording of him verbally berating a Kotak employee was leaked, and went viral.

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Despite denying the incident in a now-deleted tweet, the viral video caused enough scandal that it forced the BharatPe board into sanctioning an investigation into Grover, covering aspects such as financial irregularities under his and his wife's stewardship.

His wife, Madhuri Jain Grover, was fired from her position at BharatPe last week as a result of this investigation. The investigation, conducted by Alvarez & Marsal, is expected to be released sometime this week.

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In his email, Grover states that he is resigning "effective immediately" due to "baseless and targetted attacks" against him and his family.

Additionally, he claimed there was a "battle of egos" amongst the co-founders, investors and board members, being publicly explained "under the charade of 'good governance'."

Grover also took aim at the investors who he thinks pushed for the investigation. “It is sad that you have even lost touch with the founder." Grover continued, "For you, the founder of this company has been reduced to a button to be pressed when needed. I cease to be a human for you. Today, you have chosen to believe gossip and rumours about me instead of having a frank conversation."

“The fundamental fact is that all of you as investors are so far removed from reality that you’ve forgotten what real businesses look like and have no appreciation for what it took to run this enterprise day in and day out,” wrote Grover.

Grover remains the largest shareholder in BharatPe, which was last valued at $2.85 billion. He has previously offered to sell his shares, but investors have declined to accept the value he is currently placing on them.