WhiteHead Jr founder files 20 crore lawsuit against engineer

NEW DELHI: The Founder of new online coding classes startup WhiteHat Jr, Karan Bajaj has recently filed a lawsuit of Rs 20 crore against an engineer who publicly slammed the company for its marketing tactics. The engineer named Pradeep Poonia has been accused of "infringing trademarks and copyright of properties owned by WhiteHat Jr, defaming and spreading misleading information about the startup and its founder, and accessing the company's private communications app". 

According to reports, the hearing of the lawsuit has begun in the Delhi High Court.

The step has been taken after Poonia, through YouTube videos and on his Twitter handle, alleged that the coding class discussed all social media posts criticizing the company in an internal chat and that they targeted these individuals through their personal accounts or using fake IDs. He further posted screenshots allegedly of the company’s slack account as proof of the same.

The lawsuit has also accused Poonia of publicly sharing phone numbers of WhiteHat Jr employees and making strong accusations such as likening the startup's marketing tactics to "child sexual abuse." However, Poonia has posted yet another tweet and posted a screenshot of another chat, allegedly between Whitehat Jr staff.

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WhiteHat Jr has come under severe criticism in the past for its aggressive marketing tactics and misleading advertisements showing young children as having achieved great heights through coding including claims to these kids bagging jobs with top tech companies with salaries running into crores of rupees.

WhiteHat Jr had recently announced their plans to expand to other global markets like Canada, UK, Australia, and New Zealand after a stellar growth in the US for its one-to-one online coding classes. After launching their courses in the US in February, the company claims to be growing at more than 100 percent (month-on-month) in the country.

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