NEW DELHI :
In 2020, the swift rise of Anurag Bhatia, from Quora influencer to founder-CEO of a wealth management startup, ended in multiple allegations of fraud—and an order from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) that barred his Bengaluru-based firm Minance from the securities market. Two years later, a complaint with the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) in Maharashtra alleges Bhatia resurrected himself—with a new hedge fund and a brand-new identity.
In March, the chief executive of an alternative investment firm (AIF) went to the EOW with allegations that Hedonova, a hedge fund he had invested in, was a suspected Ponzi scheme. That’s not all. His complaint, a copy of which was reviewed by Mint, alleges that Hedonova’s chief of investments, Neel Aryan Birla, is none other than Minance founder Anurag Bhatia. “This is part of a potential fraud committed by an individual named Anurag Bhatia. He claimed his name is Neel Aryan Birla and that he works for a firm called Hedonova, lives in Paris, and is the nephew of billionaire industrialist Kumar Mangalam Birla. All of this was later discovered to be false,” the complaint said. “This is a clear case of impersonation,” the CEO, who asked not to be named for fear that his company might become associated with the fraud in future web searches, said in an interview.
When Mint reached out to Birla, he denied any link with Bhatia. He…
