BharatPe vs Kotak Mahindra Bank: Why both parties are sending legal notices to each other?

In connection with the abusive audio clip that went viral, Kotak Mahindra Bank on Sunday said it is pursuing legal action against co-founder and managing director of the fintech platform BharatPe Ashneer Grover and his wife Madhuri. The bank alleges that the audio clip is of their employee being threatened and abused by the couple for failing to secure financing and allocation of share in Nykaa's blockbuster initial public offering last year. 

Grover asserts 'fake audio' by scamsters

While the IPO incident dates back to last year, on 5 January, when a Twitter user that goes by the username- @BabuBongo posted the audio recording on the microblogging platform, the matter resurfaced. The audio clip featured two male voices and one female voice, and it was claimed by the user that the voices were those of Grover and his wife and an employee of the Kotak Mahindra Bank.

Grover asserted that it was fake audio by "some scamster trying to extort funds (USD 2,40,000 bitcoins)" and added that he "refused to buckle". "I've got more character. And, the internet has got enough scamsters," he tweeted. The tweet has now been deleted.

'Appropriate legal action is being pursued'

Last year, Grover and his wife Madhuri Grover had sent a legal notice to Kotak Mahindra Bank's managing director and chief executive officer Uday Kotak and to some of his senior management, and sought damages for the gains Grover and his wife would have made after subscribing to shares worth Rs 500 crore in Nykaa besides Rs 1 lakh towards the cost of the legal notice.

"In the event of Kotak's failure to do so, Kotak would be liable to compensate our clients for the losses suffered on account of Kotak's breaches, i.e. the gains our client would have made through the Nykaa IPO, by submitting an application of Rs 500 crore in the HNI segment, less the cost of borrowing computed at 10 per cent for 7 days," the notice read.

Acknowledging the notice, the bank said, "It was received by us and was replied to appropriately at the time, including placing on record our objections to inappropriate language used by Grover." It added, "Appropriate legal action is being pursued."