The Delhi Police have recently filed a First Information Report (FIR) based on a complaint that alleges forgery, falsification of accounts, criminal conspiracy, and cheating involving certain officials of Hero MotoCorp. The individuals named in the complaint include Pawan Munjal, the chairman of Hero MotoCorp, as well as executives Vikram Kasbekar and Hari Gupta. It’s worth noting that the FIR does not directly name the company, Hero MotoCorp.
Hero MotoCorp, in response to the FIR, stated that this is an older matter dating back to 2009-10 and involves a disgruntled service provider, Brains Logistics Pvt Ltd (promoter – Roop Darshan Pandey). According to Brains Logistics, a former vendor of Hero Honda Company, they allege that the accused officials collaborated to commit forgery, cheating, and falsification of records. Specifically, they claim that fake month-wise bills totaling Rs 5.95 crore for the years 2009 and 2010 were wrongly debited to them.
The complaint also mentions Manjula Banerji, who was the company auditor in 2009 and 2010 and was identified as a partner in Deloitte Haskins & Sells. Hero MotoCorp mentioned that in 2013, they themselves registered an FIR against Brains Logistics, and this matter is currently ongoing in a court of law.
In terms of financial impact, Hero MotoCorp’s share price experienced a 2.7% decline on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) to Rs 2,953.8 on the day the news broke, which coincided with a less than 1% decline in the benchmark Sensex.
Separately, in August of this year, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducted searches on Pawan Munjal and others as part of an investigation into an alleged money laundering case. These searches extended to Munjal’s residential and business premises in Delhi and Gurgaon, as well as some linked entities. Hero MotoCorp issued a statement at the time, emphasizing their cooperation with the ED’s investigation.
This case registered by the ED originated from a complaint filed against Munjal by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), the investigation branch of the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC). Reports suggest that customs authorities apprehended an executive based on information from the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF). During a security check before boarding a British Airways flight to London from the Delhi International Airport on August 20, 2018, the CISF discovered foreign currency exceeding 281 lakh in the executive’s hand baggage. As a result, customs seized this currency under foreign exchange management laws.