The Karnataka High Court on Monday passed an interim order restraining Byju Raveendran, founder of troubled edtech firm Byju’s, and his investment firm, Byju’s Investments Pte Ltd (BIPL), from selling, mortgaging, or transferring any properties.

The court’s order followed a petition by Qatar Holding, a subsidiary of the sovereign wealth fund of Qatar, which is seeking to enforce a $235 million arbitral award against Raveendran and his investment firm.

The claim also has an interest component of 4% per annum, compounded daily, from February 28 last year until the payment is made, the counsel representing Qatar Holding said during the hearing. The accrued interest on the $235 million arbitral award now amounts to $14 million.

Counsel for Byju’s informed the court that they had not yet received copies of the enforcement petition and interim application, and requested additional time to file objections.

The matter pertains to a $150 million loan that Qatar Holding extended to BIPL in 2022, which was personally guaranteed by Raveendran to part-fund the acquisition of coaching centre operator Aakash Educational Services.

After multiple defaults on repayment, Qatar Holding ended the financing agreement and sought early repayment of $235 million, the petition said. In March 2024, it initiated arbitration in Singapore and, on July 14 this year, received the final award in its favour.

The emergency arbitrator in Singapore had also issued a global freezing order on the assets and funds of BIPL and Raveendran, up to $235 million. This order, along with the award, was later upheld by the Singapore High Court.

This comes at a time when the edtech company and Raveendran face a series of legal challenges. On July 7, a US court found Raveendran in civil contempt for not complying with orders to produce documents in a matter related to a $1.2 billion term loan.

On April 10, the US lenders who had extended the term loan filed a lawsuit in that country against Raveendran, his wife Divya Gokulnath and former company executive Anita Kishore. The lawsuit alleged that the three of them planned and executed a scheme to hide and misappropriate $533 million from the money lent to Byju’s Alpha, a special purpose financing vehicle the edtech company had established in the US to receive the loan.