Stayzilla founder out on bail; says Jigsaw matter was not financial but moral

Stayzilla cofounder Yogendra Vasupal, who was imprisoned after a vendor filed a criminal case against him claiming outstanding dues, has been freed on bail, and there is a lot to hear from the man behind the startup that closed its operations in the recent past.

Clearing the air behind the reason for his arrest, Vasupal has stated that the matter was never financial, and that the searing dispute with its vendor Jigsaw Solutions was suspension of trust and an outbreak of hostilities.

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Vasupal says that he found clear evidence that Jigsaw was attempting forgery in many pictures that they had sent as proofs of StayZilla’s outdoor campaigns, and gave their founder Aditya CS ample opportunities to do the right thing. He added that he is still very much confident about his victory in the court.

Talking about why a contract between StayZilla and Jigsaw never existed, he said that Stayzilla and Jigsaw worked on order-to-order basis, meaning that the vendor was paid on submitting proof of execution of the order.

Jigsaw was an intermediary for Stayzilla since it never raised invoices for outdoor, print, or radio campaigns. The invoices always came from experienced media agencies, who used to pay commission to Jigsaw. But then, in the December 2015 campaign, Stayzilla started receiving invoices directly from Jigsaw, which made them take notice of the discrepancies and probe further.

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When asked if there was a scope for mediation, Vasupal said that he is out to prove all the accusations wrong, since accepting mediation would mean giving into extortion and proving them right.

SZ had made online posts about being intimidated but they never filed a police complaint. When asked the reason, Vasupal says that even though his cofounder Sachit Singhi and their advocates were in favour of filing a complaint, it was Vasupal himself who decided to take things slowly, which resulted in loss of time. By the time they had had enough of the threats, it had become difficult to lodge a complaint.

On being asked about the future of SZ and when would its operations resume, Vasupal admits that even though he had meetings lined up with possible business partners, he was picked from the road and put behind bars. Now, he will restart conversations with the potential partners only after he gets time from Singhi's anticipatory bail and assisting the investigation.

(Image source OfficeChai)