Bhavik Koladiya takes Ashneer Grover to court over BharatPe share dispute

Bhavik Koladiya and his teacher's son Shashvat Nakrani founded the fintech firm BharatPe in 2017 and Ashneer Grover joined the startup in 2018 as CEO

Bhavik Koladiya, the co-founder of BharatPe, has filed a lawsuit against his erstwhile partner and co-founder Ashneer Grover, five months after he broke his ties with the startup, reported The Economic Times. On January 18, the Delhi High Court will hear Koladiya's request to regain his shares in the company.

In 2017, Koladiya and the son of his teacher, Shashvat Nakrani, founded the fintech company. The duo started looking for a CEO for the business in 2018, and they then teamed up with Grover.

Shortly after this, Koladiya, who owned about 30.21 per cent of the corporation, was forced to step down due to a prior US conviction for credit card theft.

"I cannot comment on this matter as it is sub-judice now. You can speak to my attorneys," Koladiya told ET.

According to sources with knowledge of the development, Koladiya was forced to resign and sell his interests. His involvement in the company would have presented challenges during the fundraising discussions with significant institutional investors.

A call-option agreement is typically used to pledge such holdings to existing stakeholders. Call-option agreement is a contract between two or more parties under which the buyer earns the right to exercise his option to buy a certain asset from the seller for a predetermined length of time.

Grover has asserted on several occasions that Koladiya sold his shares to him as well as other buyers, including Nakrani and early investors. 

Koladiya, however, claimed in a statement to ET that he had fulfilled the terms of a contract he had made with Nakrani and Grover in 2018 to obtain his "pledged shares" of BharatPe.

Additionally, he stated that Grover had not reverted while Nakrani had honoured the agreement after which he was anticipated to become a shareholder of BharatPe.