Fraud, threats, sexual harassment: Zilingo's Ankiti Bose files FIR against co-founder, ex-COO

April 24, 2024 / 03:17 PM IST

Bose's complaint also accused Kapoor of sexual harassment.

Zilingo founder Ankiti Bose has filed a First Information Report (FIR) with Mumbai police, accusing two of the company's top executives, co-founder Dhruv Kapoor and former Chief Operating Officer (COO) Aadi Vaidya, of cheating, fraud, criminal intimidation, as well as allegations of sexual and mental harassment.

In a six page complaint, Bose alleged that Kapoor and Vaidya have engaged in deceptive activities, misleading both her and the company's investors in an attempt to gain financial advantages and coerce her into relinquishing her shares and business under false pretenses. Moneycontrol has seen a copy of the FIR and reviewed the six page complaint.

Pradeep Kumar Jain, Managing Partner at Singhania & Co. LLP, confirmed that their client, Bose, the co-founder and ex-CEO of Zilingo, has lodged a criminal complaint through an FIR against her former colleagues. Jain, however, refrained from commenting further on the matter at this stage.

"Ankiti Bose's allegations against me are completely baseless, untrue, and malicious. A thorough investigation has already proven her wrongdoing based on which she was terminated from the company. This appears to be nothing but retaliatory behavior. Throughout my tenure at Zilingo, I upheld my integrity by aiding the board's inquiry into Ankiti's misconduct while fostering professional relationships and striving to build ethical products," said Dhruv Kapoor.

"The allegations, as per media reports, made against me by Ms. Ankiti Bose are completely baseless and untrue. This seems like nothing but a clear afterthought done with a malicious intention to harm my reputation and harass me", said Aadi Vaidya.

After a prolonged boardroom drama which included Bose being fired as the company's chief executive officer, Zilingo entered liquidation in January last year. It had been one of the highest-profile startups to emerge from Singapore and was said to be in talks to raise fresh money at unicorn valuation before the company imploded.

In June 2022, Bose and Kapoor had even joined hands to make a management buyout offer when the Singapore-based business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce startup was staring at liquidation.

What does the complaint say?

"As the Chief Operating Officer, Mr. Aadi Vaidya engaged in misconduct by falsely attributing loss-making deals to me and extending trade credit to various parties in my name. He then used those deals to threaten me by falsely implicating me to investors, despite the fact that all operational dealings were conducted by him in my previous company," Bose alleged in her complaint.

The former Zilingo CEO alleged that Kapoor and Vaidya were required to share some data with the team. "However, they chose to be sneaky and shady by hiding various company-related data and information. This made it extremely difficult to make informed decisions and collaborate effectively," the complaint said.

Bose also has made the accusation that the duo "used lewd language and sent me vulgar sexually explicit messages from untraceable accounts and also threatened me that they will target me online and that they will get me into a terrible mental state where I will commit suicide."

"Mr Dhruv Kapoor and Mr. Aadi Vaidya said they also have an intention to create fake WhatsApp messages of my name. I believe they have followed through with this plan and have conspired with unknown individuals to harass me, ultimately leading to the fraudulent acquisition of my shares. This malicious behavior has caused me significant psychological trauma as a result of the digital harassment," she added.

Bose's complaint also accused Kapoor of sexual harassment.

"During a private meeting, Mr. Dhruv Kapoor overstepped boundaries by persisting with an intention of initiating a non-consensual and unprofessional sexual relationship," she alleged in her complaint.

The story was updated to include Dhruv Kapoor and Aadi Vaidya's responses to the allegations.

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Deepsekhar Choudhury Deepsekhar covers tech and startups at Moneycontrol. Tweets at @deepsekharc

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