While the Indian startup ecosystem was grappling with the fallout from the corporate governance lapses at the likes of GoMechanic, Mojocare, and BharatPe, another storm was quietly brewing at Medikabazaar, one of India’s largest B2B medical supplies startups.

There were no telltale signs at first. No public battles. No dramatic exits. But behind the scenes, tensions were brewing.

What started with an anonymous whistleblower complaint alleging financial irregularities soon escalated into a full-blown boardroom battle, resulting in the firing of Medikabazaar founder and CEO Vivek Tiwari.

In August last year, the former CEO also moved to the Delhi High Court against the startup and some of its investors. In a petition filed with the HC, the founder has accused Medikabazaar’s investors – HealthQuad, Creaegis, and Ackermans & van Haaren – of orchestrating a plan to unlawfully strip him of his position and rights as a promoter.

According to the court filings accessed by Inc42, Tiwari filed the petition under Section 9 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996. The former CEO has sought urgent interim protection against what he has termed an “orchestrated attempt by investors to unlawfully oust him” from his role and promoter status.

While Medikabazaar declined to comment on Inc42’s queries regarding the allegations made by the former CEO, emails sent to investors did not receive a response till the time of publishing this story.

The next hearing in the matter is scheduled for April 30.

Amid all these, it was reported last week that Medikabazaar ousted Tiwari from its board, citing “malicious and fraudulent activities”.

But to understand the ongoing legal battle, let’s first go through Tiwari’s allegations and the timeline of events at the startup.

The Back Story

Tiwari cofounded Medikabazaar in 2014 with Ketan Malkan. Prior to that, he was the COO of AMRA Renal Care. He also worked with the Tata Group and Nestle.

On December 13, 2023, Medikabazaar’s statutory auditors received an anonymous whistleblower complaint alleging financial irregularities at the startup, involving Tiwari, then recently appointed CFO Raman Chawla, and 15 other employees.

Following this, as per the petition,........

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