KiranaPro CEO on fired employee who deleted data: 'We had arguments but…'

Hindustan Times

5 hours ago

Grocery delivery startup KiranaPro has been battling fires all week. After an 'internal data breach' by a 'trusted employee' wiped company data and affected its customer-facing app, reports surfaced about delayed salaries at the Bengaluru-based startup.
KiranaPro CEO Deepak Ravindran told HT.com that the former employee behind the data breach was laid off rather than fired. He said that differences between them have now been settled.
Last week, KiranaPro claimed it had been hacked and all its data had been deleted. Later, CEO Deepak Ravindran took to LinkedIn saying that a former employee was behind the data breach.
'After careful investigation, we conclude that this was not a hack. No external party penetrated our ordering or payment systems, exploited vulnerabilities, or bypassed security protocols… Instead, this was an internal data breach. Specifically, it was the result of actions taken by a trusted internal employee who had legitimate access to our systems,' he wrote.
Ravindran said that this individual – whom he identified as one Lava Kumar – 'intentionally deleted critical server logs while they were being tested.'
A report in The Morning Context suggested that Lava Kumar was upset about being fired and deleted company code as retaliation.
Asked as to why the ex-employee wiped company data, Ravindran told HT.com that they are 'coming closer to a settlement'.
'Lava comes from a business background. He has worked with me in the past in Lookup,' the CEO of KiranaPro told HT.com. 'He wanted to work on product so I said okay.
'We did not have much by way of product, so I said 'Fine, you can explore'.
'But then my new CTO Sourav joined the company and he is creating a new team. So we are reshuffling the team,' explained Ravindran.
Lava Kumar's role was terminated due to internal restructuring. 'The firing was not a firing, actually. It was just a removal. It wasn't a firing,' Ravindran told HT.com.
'After the termination, we did have arguments of business, but we have settled it now,' claimed the CEO of KiranaPro. 'We are coming closer to the settlement. There is no hate among the employees now, it's all peace.'
The CapTable reported on June 6 that several current and former employees of KiranaPro have accused the company of not paying their dues.
'I haven't been paid for April and May,' alleged one former employee. 'Ravindran would make fake promises about clearing our payments on a certain day and then keep extending the deadline.'
Another employee told The CapTable that some of his colleagues had not been paid for the last four months.
Ravindran told HT.com that the delay was due to investor funds being in the pipeline. He said that all employees have received a part of their salaries and will receive the rest soon.