Stayzilla founder files bail plea with Madras High Court

Application comes three weeks after Yogendra Vasupal was arrested over a dispute with a vendor

Yogendra Vasupal (pictured), one of the founders of online accommodation aggregator Stayzilla, has filed a bail petition with the Madras High Court, almost three weeks after he was arrested by the police on a complaint filed by one of its vendors.

His bail application was earlier dismissed by a special metropolitan court and a principal sessions court. An anticipatory bail petition filed by co-founder Sachit Singhi was also dismissed by the principal sessions court.

Vasupal was arrested on March 14 on charges of cheating after a vendor Jigsaw Advertising and Solutions complained that dues of over ~1.69 crore were not paid by the company that suspended its operations.

The lawyer for Vasupal argued that it was a civil case and criminal charges were foisted to put pressure on him. Various industry bodies had earlier united behind Vasupal and sought intervention of the government to secure his release. Leaders of various industry bodies including CII Start-up Council chairman Kris Gopalakrishnan and Nasscom executive council member Ravi Gururaj have said that there is an immediate need to lay guidelines on business closures.

They said that start-ups have become the growth engine of innovation for India and the prime minister’s vision of Startup India has given a tremendous boost to the youth of the country and their dream to be an entrepreneur.

Over 1,000 entrepreneurs including former Infosys board member T V Mohandas Pai, Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma, and Ola Cabs co-founder Bhavish Aggarwal, in a letter to Union home minister Rajnath Singh, have sought “justice” for Vasupal.The founders expressed their concern on the manner in which Vasupal was arrested and the alleged influence including harassment by the concerned officials in Chennai.

Stayzilla decided to halt operations in February and said it was looking at a different business model.

"All Yogi wanted was a complete restructuring (reboot) of Stayzilla and had begun discussions with prospects in the accommodation and tourism space. He even attended a travel summit in Delhi in the 2nd week of March to begin his discussions on the reboot. He was in the process of liquidation of assets that were not generating revenue and focus on vehicles which had a good opportunity in the current system. Company was also in the parallel process of collection from debtors and other pay offs," wrote co-founders in the blog.

The company has raised $34 million in four funding rounds from Nexus Venture Partners, Matrix Partners and others.