Owner of cheapest smartphone maker 'Freedom 251' arrested in money extortion case

The founder of the company that offered world's cheapest smartphone "Freedom 251", and other two people, were arrested by the Delhi police on Sunday for allegedly attempting to extort money in lieu of settling a rape case. 

Goel, his aide and a woman conspired to extort money from the complainants after implicating them in a gang-rape case in Rajasthan's Alwar.

Earlier, the woman, involved in the conspiracy, had filed a complaint that she was gang-raped by five people in a hotel in Alwar. During the course of the investigation, it was found that the woman had been threatening the complainant and asking him for money.

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Later, the police laid a trap to arrest the accused when they came to take the extortion amount.

"My relatives were being honey-trapped. First, the accused asked for Rs 11 core and then they settled the matter for Rs 2.5 crore. They took Rs 1 crore 15 lakh earlier and today they came to take Rs 30 lakh when they were arrested," said a family member of a complainant.

Earlier, Mohit Goel had spent more than three months in jail on allegations of fraud. However, on May 31, Ringing Bells Managing Director got bail from the Allahabad High Court. Ghaziabad-based Ayam Enterprises alleged that Goel ‘defrauded’ the company of Rs 16 lakh. Goel was arrested in February in Uttar Pradesh.

Charges against Goel and four other directors of Ringing Bells were framed on February 22 under Indian Penal Code’s Sections 467 (forgery of valuable security, will), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged document or electronic record), 406 (punishment for criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) and 120b (criminal conspiracy).

Ringing Bells launched Freedom 251, dubbed as the world’s cheapest smartphone at Rs 251, back in 2016. '

(With inputs from ANI)