Singapore court sentences Byju’s founder Raveendran to six months in jail

A Singapore court has sentenced Byju Raveendran, the founder of embattled education technology company Byju’s, to six months in jail for contempt, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday.

The court said that he had disobeyed several orders related to his assets dating back to April 2024, the news agency quoted unidentified officials as saying.

Raveendran has been directed to surrender himself to officials, pay costs of S$90,000 (around Rs 67 lakh) and provide documents proving his legal ownership of Beeaar Investco Pte, a corporate entity that held shares in a related company.

The proceedings in Singapore were initiated by a subsidiary of sovereign wealth fund Qatar Investment Authority, which had invested in Byju’s during a funding round for the education technology firm as it was cutting jobs and laying off staff, Bloomberg reported.

Raveendran is also battling lenders in the United States in connection with a $1.2 billion loan. US courts had earlier held him in contempt and imposed daily sanctions for not complying with disclosure orders tied to the dispute.

In a statement after the Singapore court’s ruling, Raveendran said that the US-based lender GLAS Trust and the Qatar Investment Authority have been in advanced settlement discussions for months with other stakeholders and the founders of Byju’s.

“A settlement has been agreed in principle,...

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