Ashok Rajagopal, former
director of defunct e-commerce firm AskMe who represented the majority investor
Malaysia’s Astro on the board, got interim bail on a case filed by one of the
online sellers My Limo Trading Company. The seller had accused AskMe of not paying
the company the money the latter had collected on its behalf from buyers for
goods sold on the e-commerce platform.
Though Rajagopal was not in
charge of day-to-day affairs at AskMe, My Limo filed a case against him since
he had represented Astro, the 98.5% stakeholder in Getit Infoservice Pvt Ltd,
the company that ran AskMe. Rajagopal had sought anticipatory bail in this
case in the court of district and sessions judge, Patiala House, New
Delhi, after a first information report (FIR) was registered against him on
complaints filed by My Limo Trading Company.
My Limo claims AskMe owes
the former around Rs 1.5 crore.
The court has ordered not to
take any coercive action against Rajagopal till 8 January, when the bail
application would again be considered. Rajagopal and Astro spokesperson did not
respond to queries regarding the legal proceedings.
The legal imbroglio
involving Astro and AskMe is getting more complex with another FIR being
registered against former AskMe board members on a case filed by My Limo’s
affiliate company EBiz International seeking Rs 2.5 crore of defaulted
payments.
AskMe suspended operations
and top management led by CEO Sanjiv Gupta left the company in August when
Astro stopped funding the company. A number of sellers are now filing cases
against former directors while Gupta and the investor Malaysian conglomerate
Astro are slugging it out at the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT).
NCLT has scheduled for
hearing on the winding down petition moved by Astro along with several other
petitions related to this matter for 12 December. Various parties
including hundreds of online sellers and 4,000 unpaid employees of AskMe are
awaiting the conclusion of the legal battle that was set off end-August following
the collapse of talks regarding a management buyout.
