Byju Raveendran stares at 'look out notice' ahead of high-voltage investor meet on Friday

The Directorate of Enforcement has reportedly pushed for a look out circular against Byju Raveendran to ensure the founder of the embattled tech company "does not leave the country".

Raveendran has already been issued an LOC 'on intimation', according to an ET report. The edtech founder faces a high-voltage EGM this Friday where some investors has sought his removal. On Wednesday, the Karnataka High Court, in response to a petition filed by Think & Learn Pvt Ltd (the parent company of Byju’s), passed an order stating that any resolutions proposed to be passed in the February 23 EGM called by select investors “as invalid until the final hearing and disposition of this petition”. 

The court, however, has allowed the EGM to go ahead as scheduled.

Byju’s filed the petition under Section 9 of The Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, arguing that certain investors, including General Atlantic, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, MIH EdTech Investments, Own Ventures, Peak XV Partners, SCI Investments, SCHF PV Mauritius, Sands Capital Global Innovation Fund, Sofina and T. Rowe Price Associates, had violated the Articles of Association (AoA), the Shareholders’ Agreement (SHA), and the Companies Act, 2013 by calling for an EGM.

The company is also facing charges of foreign exchange violations, a reason behind the push for LOC. Raveendran has mostly been shuttling between Delhi and Dubai for the past three years, the ET report said. 

ED had last year issued show-cause notices to Think & Learn Pvt Ltd and Raveendran over alleged violations under FEMA. Byju's said the queries raised by the ED in the notice were "solely technical in nature."