Indian fintech company BharatPe on Wednesday removed co-founder and managing director (MD) Ashneer Grover from all positions in the company. The company accused Grover and his family of engaging in extensive misappropriation of company funds. The company has taken strong objection to Ashneer for “spinning lies and hurling baseless allegations and threats.”

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In its statement, BharatPe said that it reserves the right to take further legal action against Grover and his family but remained silent on his resignation.

The statement comes a day after Grover resigned as MD from the company’s board.

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“The board will not allow the deplorable conduct of the Grover family to tarnish BharatPe’s reputation or that of its hard-working employees and world-class technology. As a result of his misdeeds, Mr Grover is no longer an employee, a founder, or a director of the company,” the statement read.

BharatPe said that Grover submitted his resignation as soon as he heard that the firm’s internal records would be examined by independent external advisors.

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“The Grover family and their relatives engaged in extensive misappropriation of company funds, including, but not limited to, creating fake vendors through which they siphoned money away from the company’s expense account and grossly abused company expense accounts to enrich themselves and fund their lavish lifestyles,” it added.

“I write this with a heavy heart as today I am being forced to bid adieu to a company of which I am a founder,” Grover wrote in his resignation.

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Last week, BharatPe sacked Ashneer’s wife Madhuri Jain Grover for alleged financial irregularities ranging from creating fake invoices to billing the company for personal beauty treatment and trips abroad. She was the head of controls in BharatPe.

The controversy started in January this year when an audio clip emerged in which Grover was allegedly threatening and hurling abuses at an employee of Kotak Wealth Management over his failure to get an allotment of Nykaa’s IPO. Later, Grover claimed that the clip was fake and he was being blackmailed.

As a result, BharatPe came under intense scrutiny after Grover sought damages from Uday Kotak for Kotak Mahindra Bank’s alleged refusal to finance a personal investment.

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Kotak Bank has claimed in legal filings that Grover used “foul” language toward its employees. Grover was subsequently sent on voluntary leave.

After growing concerns over governance issues, BharatPe conducted an independent audit of its internal processes and systems.