Bengaluru: A non-cognisable case was filed against a woman on a complaint by Flipkart Co-founder Binny Bansal, who recently quit as the Group CEO over allegations of “serious personal misconduct,” but was later closed after a brief probe, a senior police official said Friday.
Bansal had alleged in his complaint that the woman was sending threatening mails to him, the official told PTI on condition of anonymity. The firm owner Walmart Inc had announced on Tuesday last that Bansal had resigned as the group Chief Executive Officer after an independent probe into allegations of “serious personal misconduct.”
Repudiating the charges, Binny, 37, had said that he was “stunned” by the allegations and added that he would, however, continue to remain a large shareholder and Board member of the company that he had co-founded 11 years ago.
“The Koramangala police had filed a non-cognisable case against a woman. Bansal had alleged that the woman was sending threatening mails to him,” the officer said. The complaint, after a few days of investigation, was closed, the officer said, but declined to disclose further details.
Non-cognisable offence refers to an offence in which the police has no authority to apprehend a person for crime on their own. Under this law, the police require a warrant to arrest an accused and a court’s prior approval to begin investigation.
Bansal’s exit came just months after Flipkart was acquired by Walmart. He was serving as Group CEO after Walmart’s mega USD 16 Billion investment in the Bengaluru-based company. Walmart, in its statement, had said Binny’s decision to step down followed an independent investigation done on behalf of Flipkart and Walmart, even though the probe “did not find evidence to corroborate the complainant’s assertions” against him.
The company, however, did not provide details of the nature of misconduct or the findings of the probe for which it had engaged a global law firm. The probe that began in July did not involve an employee of Flipkart, according to sources that had indicated that the complainant was associated with the firm a few years ago, but was now running her own venture.
The matter is in “personal realm,” they added. This, however, could not be independently ascertained. Binny had co-founded Flipkart with his IIT-Delhi batchmate Sachin Bansal in 2007.
Sachin Bansal (not related) left the company, selling his entire 5.5 per cent stake to Walmart, as part of the mega USD 16-billion deal with the US retail behemoth in May.