OYO founder Ritesh Agarwal booked for alleged 'fraud, criminal conspiracy'

Chandigarh: An FIR has been registered against Ritesh Agarwal, founder, and CEO of Oyo Hotels and Homes Private Limited (OHHPL), and Sandeep Lodha, CEO of OHHPL's brand Weddingz.in, for alleged fraud and conspiracy.

The complaint was filed by Dera Bassi police in Mohali district on charges made by Vikas Gupta, a Chandigarh-based businessman.

Gupta, in his complaint to the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Gupta had alleged that the company's top management abruptly dodged out of the business agreement with an intentional criminal intent.

However, an Oyo Spokesperson has denied the charges made against the company.

According to the reports, an agreement that was signed in 2019 between his company Vikas Mineral Foods Pvt Ltd (VMFL) which also runs Casa Villaz Resorts Dera Bassi, Gupta said that the Chandigarh head of Weddingz.in came into his contact in June 2019 and showed interest in running the business of banquet hall in exchange for a fixed monthly compensation. The agreement was signed after all necessary documents and No Objection Certificates (NOCs) asked for by OHHPL were submitted and the top management, as well as the finance and legal teams of OYO, were satisfied. Since then, everything was running smoothly until the COVID outbreak restrictions were imposed on gathering in marriages and events. Gupta further added that ''Fearing losses, the OHHPL planed a conspiracy and against the terms of the signed agreement, sent him a notice on March 16 this year to again submit NOCs and other documents.'' A 15-day notice period was given to Gupta, whereas according to the agreement, 60 days is to be given in case any party wants to break the agreement if any breach happens. Later that, another notice was sent to him asking to pay a penalty of over Rs 5 crore (approx.) as a part of criminal conspiracy to make huge and easy money through pressure tactics. Gupta mentioned that both notices sent to him were unsigned, so these had no legal sanctity.