Highlights:
- Woman dupes over 900 people of Rs 250 crore
- The woman along with her 4 co-directors promised to double their investment on monthly basis
- The company was called “Hello Taxi”
Looking like it comes straight out from the cult favourite movie Phit Hera Pheri, a 47 year old woman was arrested from South Goa for allegedly conning more than 900 people to the tune of Rs 250 crore after promising them huge returns on investment in her app-based taxi company, said the Police.
According to a police complaint lodged in 2019, the woman along with her business partners Saroj Mahapatra, Rajesh Mahto, Sunder Bhati and Harish Bhati duped people after they promised them of higher rates of interest up to 200% on a monthly basis on their investments in the company which is called “Hello Taxi”.
The police said that over 900 people had invested in the “Hello Taxi” company and the which has 4 co-directors who, along with the woman, fled with the money estimated at Rs 250 crore.
O P Mishra, Joint Commissioner of Police of the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) said, “During investigation, it was found that the directors of the company actively induced the victims to part with their money on the pretext of high returns by investing in Hello Taxi company,”.
In the beginning, the firm did pay returns to its investors to win their confidence, but later they stopped paying them altogether after the firm had collected huge amounts from the market, the Joint Commissioner said.
The people accused allegedly also changed their office premises frequently, initially, their office was in Ghaziabad and after a couple of months the office was shifted to the Patparganj Industrial Area and then they shifted their office to later to Sector-16, Rohini, Joint Commissioner Mishra said.
The company’s bank statements were scrutinised and its bank accounts which has Rs 3,27,48,495 were frozen.
The Police said that 60 new cars worth Rs 3.5 crore purchased from the cheated amount were also seized in Noida.
The woman who was associated with the company was arrested from South Goa but her identity was not revealed by the Police. One of the four co-directors in the company was arrested earlier this year, on 23rd of August. Police said efforts were underway to nab the other accomplices.
