ED conducts searches at Raveendran Byju’s residence, offices

Bengaluru — The Enforcement Directorate (ED) searched the residence and offices of Byju’s CEO Raveendran Byju here on Saturday.

ED has conducted searches at 3 premises in Bengaluru in the case of Raveendaran Byju and his company ‘Think & Learn Private Limited’ (Byju online learning platform) under the provisions of FEMA. During the search, various incriminating documents and digital data was seized.

— ED (@dir_ed) April 29, 2023

ED in a tweet said the searches were conducted under the provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA).

As per a TechCrunch report, various complaints from private individuals prompted the ED investigation. The agency had summoned Raveendran several times but he never appeared during the investigation.

The Bengaluru-based ed-tech company, backed by investors including BlackRock, Sequoia India, Lightspeed Venture Partners India, and UBS, referred to the Enforcement Directorate’s searches as a “routine inquiry.” The company said that it maintains complete transparency with the authorities and has provided all the information requested during the investigation.

This comes at a time when Byju’s is gearing up for the IPO of Aakash, its physical tutor chain.