Startup founder files FIR against Tiger Global, Goldman Sachs; it has become very clear that …

Amarendra Sahu, the co-founder of the home rental platform Nestaway Technologies, has filed criminal charges against the company's investors. Sahu accused the investors including Goldman Sachs, Tiger Global Management, Chiratae Ventures and Schroders Adveq of allegedly using cheating, forgery, intimidation and criminal conspiracy to sell Nestaway to Aurum PropTech in June 2023. Sahu, also the company's former CEO, has filed a complaint with an Economic Offences Wing in Odisha, alleging that the investors forced the sale of the Bengaluru-based company using forged documents and failed to pay him Rs 11.72 crore as promised.
In the FIR , Sahu reportedly claimed: “…it has become very clear that … (the investors) had the ill intention right from the very beginning of the discussion regarding selling of the company to cheat me by not giving me the promised amount and dishonestly induced me to complete all the work for sale of the company and sign the sale document…”
“...due to the pandemic situation from 2020 to 2022, the company suffered heavy losses as its activity could not run…At this juncture, when the company was running under severe financial distress, the investors, namely – Goldman Sachs Singapore and Tiger Global Singapore, who were also board members in the company, left the board so as not to sustain any personal loss of money or reputation to them,” he further alleged.
He accused the investors of forging documents with his signature to finalise the sale, even though he had resigned from the company's board beforehand. Sahu has also claimed that his co-founders Jitendra Jagadev (who is currently the CEO of Nestaway) and Smruti Ranjan Parida collaborated with the investors in this fraudulent deal.
What Nestaway’s investors and other accused told court
The investors have approached the Orissa High Court to dismiss the FIR. During a hearing on the Nestaway case last month, Justice SS Mishra of the Orissa High Court asked the investors accused of fraud to deposit Rs 11.72 crore with the investigating officer.
However, the investors contested this order. They argued that Sahu, the Nestaway co-founder who filed the complaint, had previously raised similar concerns with regulatory bodies like SEBI and the Ministry of Corporate Affairs.
Additionally, the investors claimed that the promise of Rs 11.72 crore made to Sahu was withdrawn in February 2023, months before the company's sale in June.
Aurum acquired Nestaway for Rs 90 crore, which was much lower than its previous valuation after the company's business was severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The case is ongoing with the next hearing scheduled for January 9.