An Instagram user performed a “gutter snan” (ritual bath in a drain) targeting Aman Gupta, co-founder of Indian consumer electronics brand boAt Lifestyle, accusing him of fraud along with Sameer Mehta
In the Instagram reel, the man alleges that boAt has been involved in financial irregularities, claiming that auditors flagged mismatches between lender statements and the company’s books of accounts. He further claims that these alleged irregularities have been occurring for the past three years.
In the video, the man also says that while working as a reporter with Press Trust of India (PTI), he had reported on the Kingfisher Airlines fraud. Drawing a comparison, he claims that boAt is facing similar compliance-related issues, indirectly likening the company’s situation to that of the now-defunct airline.
The Instagram video has since gone viral, with several users echoing the allegations and calling out Aman Gupta on social media.
Auditors flag discrepancies in lender filings
According to media reports, IPO-bound consumer electronics maker boAt’s statutory auditors flagged multiple instances of mismatches between the quarterly returns or statements submitted to lenders and the company’s books of account, as disclosed in its updated draft red herring prospectus (DRHP).
Imagine Marketing, boAt’s parent company, stated that its auditors had issued several “unfavourable remarks and observations” over the years. These observations regarding discrepancies between lender filings and internal accounts pertained to financial years 2023, 2024, and 2025. In simple terms, auditors found that the information shared with banks did not align with the company’s own records.
The Gurugram-based firm, which is making a second attempt to go public after withdrawing its IPO plans in 2022, also disclosed that auditors raised concerns over the utilisation of funds for purposes other than those for which they were raised. The company noted that short-term funds were used for long-term purposes in one of its subsidiaries during FY 2023 and FY 2024.
