Founder Vaibhav Chawla Cites Police Action in Wherehouse.io Closure

New Delhi, December 03, 2025: Vaibhav Chawla, a Delhi-based entrepreneur, has made headlines across the Indian startup ecosystem following his viral LinkedIn post announcing the immediate shutdown of his supply chain intelligence company, Wherehouse.io. Chawla, one of the company’s co-founders, cited escalating operational challenges stemming from a business dispute that he claims turned into severe police action, affecting his team’s safety.

Who is Vaibhav Chawla?

Vaibhav Chawla is the Co-founder of Wherehouse.io, a logistics and supply chain intelligence startup based in Delhi. Founded in 2021 (with other co-founders Jeevan Prakash and Lavelesh Sharma), the company specialized in helping Direct-to-Consumer (D2C) brands move closer to their customers by utilizing a network of micro-warehouses, aiming for faster and more efficient deliveries. The startup was backed by institutional investors, including Better Capital and Titan Capital. Chawla’s previous roles include Head of Operations at ClaimTherapist and Co-Founder at Waaris.

The Viral Shutdown Announcement

In a lengthy and candid post on LinkedIn, Chawla announced that Wherehouse.io was “shutting down,” explaining that the company had “lost the battle” and continuing the fight was “not worth it anymore.”

He spoke of the company’s journey, which involved pushing through “capital constraints, operational chaos, and the brutal realities of building consumer infra,” and highlighted that the business had successfully created real infrastructure and was even profitable last year.

However, the mood shifted when he detailed the events that led to the closure.

The Dispute and Alleged Police Action

The central conflict appears to be a financial dispute with a client, identified in reports as Curio Lifestyle, which Chawla described as a “frivolous complaint.”

• The dispute reportedly began after the client allegedly started defaulting on payments, while Wherehouse had stocked more inventory than agreed upon.
• Chawla claims the client later filed a criminal complaint with the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) after the agreement was terminated by Wherehouse in June, citing abusive behavior.
• Chawla’s post alleged that the dispute escalated when, in the days leading up to the announcement, members of the Wherehouse team were detained by police officers without proper documentation, only to be released after their families arrived at the police station.
• He emphasized that the final tipping point was the inability to protect his staff, stating, “Wherehouse means nothing if we can’t protect the very people who built it.”

Arrest and Ongoing Investigation

The situation intensified just a day after the shutdown announcement. Reports indicate that Vaibhav Chawla himself was arrested in the early hours of December 3, 2025. Sources from the Delhi Police, while acknowledging the complaint (reported as cheating) and the ongoing investigation, have reportedly dismissed the claims of detention mentioned in Chawla’s post, stating that no one is currently in custody.

The closure of Wherehouse.io and the circumstances surrounding it have sparked a broader conversation within the Indian startup community about the thin line between civil business disputes and criminal action, highlighting the vulnerabilities faced by founders and their teams when navigating commercial conflicts and legal safeguards in the country.