New Delhi, Feb. 11 -- Early-stage investment firm Artha India Ventures and a co-founder of Hornet Technology, a startup in which it invested a year ago, are trading allegations against each over financial misconduct and other unauthorized activities.
The investment firm said Wednesday it "led a board action" to remove Souvik Haldar from the position of Hornet's CEO after finding out that he attempted to move company funds between bank accounts with mala fide intent, diverted company money into personal accounts, and used corporate funds to cover personal expenses.
Artha, the family office of entrepreneur Ashok Kumar Damani that also operates a venture capital arm, had invested in Hornet in February last year, infusing Rs 4 crore as a part of its seed round.
Hornet Technology, operated by Kolkata-based Hornet Decentratech Pvt Ltd, says it is a crypto forensics and investigation platform. It offers real-time blockchain tracking, dark web intelligence, and regulatory compliance and supports investigations into financial crime, money laundering, and crypto-enabled fraud.
"(Haldar) copied the entire codebase of the company, including active investigations that were ongoing with law enforcement agencies that were conducting their work (through Hornet) onto a hard drive and then took it off the company premises," Anirudh A. Damani, director at Artha India Ventures, said in a video on LinkedIn.
This included sensitive data and detailed information related to ongoing crypto wallet-tracking operations conducted by government and police authorities.
Artha, which also issued a separate press statement, said that it initiated a detailed enquiry in December 2025, after it identified financial irregularities during routine governance and financial oversight. The investor, acting on behalf of the board, issued a legal notice outlining these concerns and sought cooperation with an independent third-party investigation on December 22, 2025. However, Haldar did not comply with the governance requirements and instead obstructed the investing and tried destroying evidence, the VC investor said.
Artha alleged that Haldar tried removing his co-founder and tried taking control over the board, conducting illegal board meetings. It also claimed that he tried withholding employees' salaries, threatening them to support him, and also took up external employment while acting as the CEO that his contract did not permit.
Artha said it is pursuing legal actions against Haldar to recover misappropriated funds.
On his part, Haldar dismissed the allegations in response to VCCircle's queries.
"I strongly dispute both the allegations and the manner in which this narrative is being presented. The version currently being circulated appears to be one-sided and does not reflect the full factual and legal position," he said in an emailed statement to VCCircle.
Haldar said he continues to hold an about 67% stake in the company. "Under the provisions of the Companies Act, 2013, a majority shareholder cannot be removed without a duly convened meeting and the requisite majority voting in compliance with statutory procedures. To my knowledge, no such legally valid process has been completed," he said.
To be sure, Artha didn't say that Hornet's board had removed him as a shareholder but only as the CEO.
Haldar also said that he had lodged a police complaint in Kolkata earlier this month "concerning serious matters including alleged attempts by Artha Venture Fund, in collusion with certain employees, to defraud us and unlawfully access and remove proprietary source code, with the involvement of Mr. Subhrojyoti Mondal."
Mondal is Hornet's other co-founder and chief operating officer.
"The matter is presently sub judice, and I am advised not to comment in detail while investigations and legal proceedings are underway," Haldar said.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from VC Circle.