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I have no choice but to find answers to what has happened here: Ankiti Bose, ousted CEO of Zilingo

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I have no choice but to find answers to what has happened here: Ankiti Bose, ousted CEO of Zilingo

Ankiti Bose was visibly calm. She smiled throughout the interview, but there was a sense of chaos and disbelief in her words. Her voice choked just once when she spoke about the online threat to her family, but she quickly regained the lost smile on her face. She was terminated by the board of Zilingo just a few hours before ET Prime spoke to her.

 

Bose put up a brave face and weighed her words in the 90-minute chat, in which she said personal fallouts led to the current crisis at Zilingo. She insisted that she was not shown any investigation report or complaint against her. She still maintains a slender hope of reconciliation, of leading the efforts to resolve the debt issues, and take the company forward. Bose shared her side on many questions around the affairs at Zilingo that have been in the media for the past several weeks. Edited excerpts:

 

Q. Your termination letter alleges insubordination. What insubordination are they referring to? Does it also mention any financial misdoings?

Let me first start by saying that I’m very shocked, because just this week, I actually thought we were having constructive conversation. I had offered my time for next week, as well. As I understood, the investigation was going on, and eventually a report would be provided. So I’m a little surprised at the moment with everything that is going on.

 

And yes, the letter states that I am terminated for insubordination.

 

Among other things, what caught my eye the most is that everybody knows how I have been attacked in the media and social media. There were threats to my family, to me. Pictures of my mother have been used to threaten me. I was actually rehoming my family this week.

 

After 10pm on the 18th, I was asked to come in the next day. I couldn’t do that because I had asked them for some time. I have mentioned to several shareholders again and again that I’m under a lot of pressure. And since I didn’t show up, I was terminated.

 

Till this point, I have not seen the original complaints or any report. If a report comes out now, it’s probably vitiated. I don’t know who made it, how it was made. I just want to think about what this means for the company as well. Because at the end of the day, I started the company when I was 23. This has been my whole life. I really don’t know what I’m feeling right now.

 

Q. No mention of financial irregularities?

They have referred to allegations that were shared with me, they have not shown me any report of financial irregularities.

 

Q. How do you plan to contest it?

So far, I have just been asking various shareholders, board members for due process. On March 31, the day that I was supposedly suspended, I attended a meeting that was with an investigator. At that point of time, I did not know that this investigator had not been duly authorised by the company. So I have flagged breaches like that — of process — again and again. I have been told by the board that the process was, in fact, followed. But I have not received clear guidance on what that was. So, I’m still trying to find out the answers to some of these questions. So, it remains to be seen how this will move forward.

 



 


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