'Aisa kaun karta hai bhai': Ashneer Grover calls out BharatPe for switching off social media comments

Ashneer Grover, the ousted co-founder and managing director of BharatPe, took to social media to criticise the fintech company’s decision to limit or switch off comments on its social media profile. To put it more in context, since the ousting of Grover and his wife Madhuri Jain Grover, the two sides have been embroiled in an ugly fight and controversies. 

In one such post on BharatPe, Grover took to social media to critise the company for disabling its comments. “BharatPe is special ! Its management under Rajnish Kumar is a class act (will become management case study),” he said, adding, “India has 106 Unicorns - BharatPe is the only one which has switched OFF its comments section across Twitter / LinkedIn / Instagram (all social media) for 15 months now. Its the ONLY FinTech or startup in the WORLD to switch off social media ever since I left (1 Mar 2022). Try it for yourself to comment.” 

“Aisa kaun karta hai bhai ? Basically dhande ki lagi hui hai - but investors junta tak kuchh pahuch hi nahi rahi customer voice and reality on ground (Who does this? Basically, the business is in doldrums and the voice of the customer and reality is not even reaching to the investor junta),” he said in the post.

BharatPe has disabled comments on LinkedIn, on selected tweets, and limited comments on Instagram.

Grover’s latest salvo comes after the Economic Offences Wing filed a first information report (FIR) against Grover and his family based on a complaint filed by the fintech company. The accused in the FIR include Ashneer’s brother Deepak Gupta, former head of procurement at BharatPe, Madhuri’s brother Shewetank Jain and father Suresh jain. Eight counts of serious cognizable criminal offences have been registered against them and if found guilty, the accused could face up to 10 years in jail. 

BharatPe welcomed the move by the EOW and said that Grover has been running a vicious and malicious campaign against the company, its board and employees. 

Ashneer Grover has earlier too, criticised Rajnish Kumar, who had previously held the position of the Chairman of State Bank of India. In a recent interview with Moneycontrol, Grover said that the company is a $3 billion write-off “whose value has been destroyed by Rajnish Kumar”. “I have said earlier also that hiring him was my mistake," he said. 

In a post yesterday, Grover said that he is now writing a book on “corporate ranjish”, a play on Rajnish Kumar’s name. Ranjish means vendetta. 

“After stupendous success of Doglapan - The Book, I am now creating: Doglapan - The Board (err bored) Game. A game of corporate ‘Ranjish’ ! It’s a combination of Chess and Monopoly. It’ll be an ode to the number 81 (get the reference huh huh ?) It’ll be played on 9x9 grid (81 squares). It’ll be priced at Rs 810. You’ll have to shout (suck-oh-yeah) before every move. Currency will be in denominations of Rs 81 crores. All FIRed up for this!!” he said. 

BharatPe was co-founded by Ashneer Grover and Shashvat Nakrani in 2018 as they sought to build a fintech platform for small merchants. The company became a unicorn in 2021 -- the 19th unicorn at that time -- following a fundraise of $370 million in its Series E round led by Tiger Global. 

Also read: 'A game of corporate 'Ranjish'': Ashneer Grover criticises BharatPe boss again

Also read: Economic Offences Wing files FIR against Ashneer Grover & family for defrauding BharatPe