According to sources, the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) has requested the Bureau of Immigration to issue a lookout notice against Byju Raveendran, the founder of the troubled edtech company Byju’s. The objective is to prevent Raveendran from departing the country.
Reportedly, this development precedes a high-stakes Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) scheduled for this Friday, where certain investors were purportedly seeking to remove Raveendran from his position.
On Wednesday, the Karnataka High Court issued an order directing Byju’s shareholders to refrain from implementing any resolutions during the EGM until the final hearing. This order was issued in response to a petition filed by Byju’s requesting the court to prohibit shareholders from conducting the EGM.
Although the court has not halted the EGM, it has suspended any resolutions until the final hearing. The court is scheduled to reconvene on March 13 to further deliberate on the matter.
One of the challenges confronting Byju’s is the allegation of foreign exchange violations, which may have prompted the central agency to advocate for the issuance of the lookout notice against Raveendran.
“The conclusion of the investigation revealed that Think & Learn Private Limited and Byju Raveendran violated FEMA provisions. This was evidenced by their failure to submit import documents for advance remittances made outside India, failure to realize proceeds from exports made outside India, delayed filing of documents related to Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) received by the company, failure to file documents for remittances made by the company outside India, and failure to allot shares against FDI received by the company,” the ED had previously declared.
