Ankiti Bose ex-CEO of Zilingo files FIR against co-founders files FIR against co-founders

Highlights:

• Ankiti Bose, co-founder and ex-CEO of Zilingo, filed a criminal complaint against fellow co-founder Dhruv Kapoor and ex-COO Aadi Vaidya.
• Bose alleged charges of ‘cheating’, ‘criminal intimidation’, ‘conspiracy’, and ‘harassment’ in her complaint, claiming Kapoor and Vaidya misled her and Zilingo’s investors for financial gain.
• She accused Vaidya of engaging in misconduct by falsely attributing loss-making deals to her and threatening her to acquire her shares.

Ankiti Bose, the co-founder and former CEO of Zilingo, a prominent fashion e-commerce startup, has made headlines after filing a criminal complaint against her fellow co-founder Dhruv Kapoor and former COO Aadi Vaidya. In her complaint, Bose alleges charges of ‘cheating’, ‘criminal intimidation’, ‘conspiracy’, and ‘harassment’, accusing Kapoor and Vaidya of misleading her and Zilingo’s investors for financial gain.

According to reports, Bose asserted in her complaint that Aadi Vaidya, in his capacity as the chief operating officer, engaged in misconduct by falsely attributing loss-making deals to her and extending trade credit in her name. She claimed that Vaidya then used these deals to threaten her, despite the fact that all operational dealings were conducted by him in her previous company. Bose further alleged being deceived and threatened by Vaidya in order to fraudulently acquire her shares valued at multiple crores.

Bose also accused Kapoor and Vaidya of being “sneaky and shady”, alleging that they concealed various company-related data and information.

Bose’s journey with Zilingo began in 2015 when she co-founded the company with Dhruv Kapoor. Zilingo’s valuation soared to ₹7,000 crore in 2019, but in 2022, Bose’s tenure at the company came to an abrupt end when she was dismissed by the Zilingo board following an investigation into alleged financial irregularities by Kroll, an independent forensics firm.

The company’s decision to terminate Bose’s employment was announced with a statement: “Following an investigation led by an independent forensics firm that was commissioned to look into complaints of serious financial irregularities, the company has decided to terminate Ankiti Bose’s employment with cause, and reserves the right to pursue appropriate legal action.”

Reflecting on her dismissal, Bose lamented, “In addition to the dispute playing out publicly (which ought to have been kept private as originally intended), the media attention around Zilingo and myself have made it impossible to focus on what is important.”

The filing of the criminal complaint by Bose against Kapoor and Vaidya adds another layer to the ongoing saga surrounding Zilingo, once hailed as a success story in the world of fashion e-commerce.

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