Startup king Ashneer Grover loses luster after BharatPe accusations- blow-by-blow account

tech.hindustantimes.com:

In the annals of controversial startup founders, there’s a special place for the likes of Uber’s Travis Kalanick and WeWork’s Adam Neumann. Now, India’s Ashneer Grover could join their ranks. Within BharatPe, one of the country’s fastest-growing financial technology companies, a ferocious split has divided the startup’s board from Grover, the co-founder and former managing director. In recent days, senior leadership has accused Grover of misappropriating funds. Staff have narrated a long litany of complaints. 

In a leaked audio recording posted anonymously on Twitter, a man whose voice sounds like Grover’s threatens a bank employee with death for not helping him get shares in a hot initial public offering. Soon after the recording appeared online, Grover went on leave, though he denied on Twitter that the voice was his. In the days since, the 39-year-old has launched a full-out assault on the company he helped build, attempting to push out a hand-picked chief executive and threatening to sue BharatPe’s board.

Last week, the drama reached a tentative conclusion: Grover resigned from the startup. In a statement, BharatPe said it “reserves all rights to take further legal action against him and his family.” His presence was removed from the website.

Grover said the accusations against him, including that he stole company money to fund an extravagant lifestyle, stem from “personal hatred and low thinking.” In a statement provided to Bloomberg, he added: “The only thing lavish about me is my dreams and ability to achieve them against all odds through hard work and enterprise.”

The tense showdown between Grover and his colleagues comes at the height, or perhaps the beginning of the fall, of a boom for India’s startup scene. During