Indian-American CEO charged with beating girlfriend is fired by company board

WASHINGTON: An India-born Silicon Valley serial entrepreneur has been fired as CEO of company he founded by the company’s board following charges of battering his girlfriend, even as he alleged that racial bias has coloured the case.

According to reports in the tech media, the board of RadiumOne, an internet advertising platform founded by Gurbaksh Chahal, has fired him over a case relating to his conviction for battery and domestic violence. Chahal, a Tarn Taran-born school dropout who founded and sold two advertising companies for $340 million before he was 25, reportedly kicked and battered his American girlfriend over a domestic argument concerning her alleged infidelity.

Chahal, 31, pleaded guilty to misdemeanor domestic violence and battery charges last week, dodging 45 felony counts for the beating that was captured on videotaped. The video was ruled to be inadmissible in court because of the nature of the way in which the police obtained it, and the victim later declined to testify and cooperate with prosecutors.

However, in a controversial ruling, Chahal was sentenced to three years’ probation, 52 weeks in a domestic violence training program, and 25 hours of community service, but was spared jail time.

Since then Chahal has taken to social media to protest his innocence even as pressure mounted on the board of RadiumOne to sack him. In a lengthy rant on his blog on Sunday — under the headline “Can you handle the truth?” — Chahal said he has been the “recipient of death threats and hateful language aimed not just at what I was accused of, but attacking me for my ethnicity, my social class, and even my gender. Many would gladly lynch me based because of my origin-and not the facts of my case.”…

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