Freedom 251’s Mohit Goel detained over fraud allegations

Mohit Goel, the Director of Noida-based company Ringing Bells that launched Freedom 251 smartphone for a mere Rs 251, was detained by Police on Thursday from Ghaziabad on allegations of fraud.

Apparently, an owner of Ghaziabad-based Ayam Enterprises had filed a FIR day before alleging that Ringing Bells "defrauded" it of Rs 16 lakh. Ghaziabad Deputy SP Manish Mishra said Goel had been detained for interrogation in the matter.

In the FIR, Ayam Enterprises has claimed it was persuaded by Goel, and others from Ringing Bells, to take up the distributorship of the Freedom 251 phones in November 2015. "We paid Rs 30 lakh to Ringing Bells through RTGS on different occasions. But it delivered us a product worth Rs 13 lakh only. Upon follow-up, we could get products plus money totalling Rs 14 lakh," it claimed in the FIR.

They further add that they were even threatened with life when they insisted that their money should be returned.

Ringing Bells had begun the sale of Freedom 251 handsets, touted as the world's cheapest, via its website in February last year. The firm claimed that over 30,000 people booked the smartphone and nearly seven crores registered for it.