Kerala Police register FIR against GLAS Trust over alleged forgery in BYJU’S insolvency case
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Kerala Police have registered an FIR against GLAS Trust Company LLC and several others over allegations of forgery and cheating in the insolvency proceedings of Think & Learn Private Limited, the parent company of BYJU’S.
The complaint alleges that GLAS Trust relied on a forged lender-authorisation letter to establish its right to represent creditors and exercise voting rights in the corporate insolvency resolution process (CIRP). The disputed document allegedly supported recognition of a claim of ₹11,432.98 crore and a 99.41% voting share in the committee of creditors (CoC).
The FIR was registered at Palarivattom Police Station in Ernakulam City on October 20, 2026, following a complaint by Rajendran Vellappalath, managing director of Voizzit Technology Private Limited. The case invokes Sections 318(4), 336(3), 340(2), 61 and 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, covering alleged cheating, forgery, use of a forged document and criminal conspiracy.
Allegations centre on July 2024 letter
The complaint challenges the authenticity of a Direction Letter dated July 25, 2024, which GLAS Trust allegedly relied upon to establish its mandate to act on behalf of lenders.
According to the petitioners’ bench note filed in a review petition before the Kerala High Court, the letter was allegedly assembled using signature pages from an earlier Direction Letter dated January 18, 2024. The petitioners claim that the dates on 12 pages were changed to July 25, 2024, even though the signatures were taken from the earlier document.
The petitioners have also alleged that signature images were reused across additional pages and that the document was created in Word and subsequently converted into a PDF, rather than being executed through electronic signatures.
The alleged alterations are significant because the petitioners dispute whether GLAS Trust had the requisite lender backing to act on their behalf. Their bench note states that authorisation from lenders holding more than 50% of the loan was required. They claim that excluding the disputed pages would reduce the lender support cited by GLAS from approximately 95% to around 42%, below the required threshold.
High Court admits review petition
The police case comes amid a separate legal challenge before the Kerala High Court. On October 27, the court reportedly admitted a review petition filed by Voizzit Technology Private Limited and Voizzit Information Technology LLC, seeking reconsideration of its June 12 judgment in the BYJU’S insolvency matter. However, it declined to stay the ongoing CIRP of Think & Learn.
The review petition seeks a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation, Enforcement Directorate and National Investigation Agency into alleged irregularities in the insolvency proceedings. The petitioners have relied on what they describe as fresh electronic evidence concerning the July 2024 lender-authorisation letter, as per reports.
The latest development adds to the legal and financial challenges facing Byju Raveendran and the BYJU’S group. Creditors are pursuing recovery of dues linked to a $1.2-billion US term loan, while Raveendran is also facing legal proceedings in India and overseas.
Think & Learn was admitted to insolvency proceedings in July 2024 over unpaid sponsorship dues of ₹158.9 crore to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) subsequently approved a settlement and closed the proceedings. However, the Supreme Court set aside that order in October 2024 following a challenge by GLAS Trust.
Separately, a Singapore court sentenced Raveendran to six months in prison in May 2026 in a contempt case involving alleged non-compliance with asset disclosure orders. More recently, he proposed relinquishing his beneficial interest in 17.89 million shares of Aakash Educational Services as part of a proposed settlement relating to a $235-million arbitration claim by Qatar Holding.