BharatPe CEO says viral audio clip with him hurling abuses is fake
After an audio clip surfaced on social media carrying abuses allegedly being hurled by BharatPe CEO Ashneer Grover and a family member on a Kotak Group employee, Grover tweeted on Thursday that it was a fake audio by some seamster trying to extort money from him in Bitcoins.
image for illustrative purpose
New Delhi, Jan 6 After an audio clip surfaced on social media carrying abuses allegedly being hurled by BharatPe CEO Ashneer Grover and a family member on a Kotak Group employee, Grover tweeted on Thursday that it was a fake audio by some seamster trying to extort money from him in Bitcoins.
The unverified audio clip went viral this week allegedly over the non-allocation of shares in fashion e-commerce firm Nykaa that recently went public.
The viral audio was posted by an anonymous handle along with the tweet: "how rich founders treat poor bank employees".
"Folks. Chill ! It's a FAKE audio by some scamster trying to extort funds (US$ 240K in bitcoins). I refused to buckle. I've got more character. And the Internet has got enough scamsters :) (sic)," Grover posted in a tweet.
He also shared a couple of email exchanges between himself and a startup marketer that goes by the name of UniconBaba.
In one of the emails, UniconBaba allegedly asked for a payment of $200,000 for BharatPe's promotion and marketing-related expenses.
"You can expect 800-1,000 potential startup deals in 2 years easily. Also, I will help you in image building strategy that will change the narrative. And give 20-25 positive shoutouts and PR plus in the same period," the alleged email shared by Grover read.
A vocal voice in the Indian startup ecosystem, Grover recently took on the overpriced Paytm IPO, saying in media reports that "it did not listen to market voices and spoilt the market for the immediate listings".
He criticised Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma's decision to "misprice" the public offering.
