Yogendra Vasupal, co-founder of homestay aggregator StayZilla, which recently shut shop, has been arrested by the Chennai police after an advertising agency filed a cheating case against him over unpaid dues, his lawyer said.
Stayzilla had shut shop last month after it was unable to raise fresh round of funding. It was speculated that they are rethinking their business strategy and will be launching later. “This has been one of the toughest decisions I have taken so far but it is the right thing to do. The hardest part is saying goodbye to a perfect team that has accomplished a lot by putting homestays on the map of India,” Yogendra Vasupal had said, in a blog post last month.
Jigsaw Advertising filed a complaint under the penal code section over unpaid dues of 1.72 crores. A bail application would be moved when Vasupal will be produced before a magistrate, his advocate, Muzzafar, said. It is still not clear how much StayZilla owes to Jigsaw and other vendors. Today he will be produced in front district magistrate.
On Tuesday evening, Sachit Singhi, who was one of the three founders, wrote in an e-mail to investors that “Yogi (Vasupal) is missing!!!” and that he was last been seen at the office of the commissioner of police in Chennai. “We need immediate help. Not sure what’s happening with Yogi and we have not known his whereabouts for last 3 hours for now. And, I think even I’ll be in custody soon,” Singhi wrote.
That e-mail, going around in social media, alleged one of the vendors, Aditya from Jigsaw Advertising, had been harassing them.
He cited a series of events from December 2, 2016, to the day the promoters decided to shut the company.
He also alleged a local legislator asked them to meet and they’d been getting threatening calls. There was also allegedly a call from a local police station to Yogendra Vasupal to come over, said Singhi, who could not be reached, his mobile phone being switched off.
Team THS
