Ayushmann Chawla Moneycontrol News
Founders of 73 startups in the country have written an open letter to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh requesting a fair investigation into the Stayzilla issue.
They have sought justice for the company's founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Yogendra Vasupal, who was arrested last week and remains in the custody of Chennai Police.
The letter sent to the Union Home Minister is supported by Paytm CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Ola CEO Bhavish Aggarwal, former Infosys Chief Financial Officer Mohandas Pai among others.
The letter has also been marked to Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Nirmala Sitharaman, Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister E Palaniswami and Union Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi.
Vasupal was arrested last week following complaints from vendors about non-payment of dues. According to a blog post written earlier by Vasupal, some scary dolls were delivered to the home of Stayzilla CEO Sachit Singhvi on March 9 bearing the image of his son. In a video posted by the Stayzilla CEO, a man is seen assaulting a company employee.
The letter alleged that Vasupal had been pressurised into confessing a crime he had never committed.
It concluded by stating: “We are standing up together as a community and believers in the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi for “Startup India. Stand-up India” to call for a free and fair investigation into the dispute and strongly oppose any abuse of power to subvert the law of land. We humbly request you to look into this matter and ensure that expeditious justice is provided to Yogi [Yogendra Vasupal].”
Various startup CEO and investors have already expressed their support for Vasupal on social media. Flipkart founder Sachin Bansal also expressed solidarity with Stayzilla CEO on Twitter.
“Let the law take its course, but intimidation of #stayzilla founders crosses a line. It's unhealthy for entrepreneurship in India.” he tweeted.
The supporting list for this letter is still open at Help-yogi.com, a website created to gather support for Vasupal.
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