Noida: ED files FIR in Bike Bot case, to take statements

GREATER NOIDA: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has lodged an FIR in the Bike Bot case and started a probe into the multi-crore fraud orchestrated by Garvit Promoters Private Limited, headed by former BSP functionary Sanjay Bhati.
The ED has started the process of issuing summons to the complainants in the case and will begin recording statements fromWednesday.
Greater Noida police that had estimated the scam to be of Rs 1,500 crore has found transactions of Rs 3,000-Rs 4,000 crore from 18 accounts of the firm, which have been frozen by the Noida Economic Offences Wing (NEOW).
The move came after 46 FIRs were lodged by Greater Noida police. Around 15 FIRs have been lodged in Rajasthan. Sunil Kumar Meena, an investor who was the first to lodge a complaint at Dadri police station, said: “The ED has issued summons and I will appear before the agency on August 7.” The order in possession with TOI states that the probe is being conducted under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002.
Over the past one week, the NEOW has made three more arrests in the case, taking the total number of arrests to eight.
Sheelesh Kumar, inspector, NEOW, said the three arrested persons were serving as additional directors at the company and were involved in soliciting investors.
While Harish Kumar, who was in the Army earlier, had retired as a havaldar in April 2017, he joined the firm in August that year. Rajesh Yadav, from Jalandhar, had joined in 2017. Kumar had got a commission of around Rs 20 lakhs for bringing in investors and was also given a Fortuner car. Yadav got a commission of around Rs 40 lakh.
The other arrested person is Vishal Kumar, from Meerut, who had got a Tata Nexon car from the firm. The Fortuner and the Nexon have been seized by police.While Bhati had surrendered in Surajpur court, the other arrested persons are Vijay Kasana, Adesh Bhati, Rajesh Bhardwaj and Vinod Chauhan.
Many others named in the FIRs, including Bhati’s wife Deepti Bahl and Videsh Bhati, Sachin Bhati and Sunil Prajapati, are yet to be nabbed.
Police said a reward of Rs 25,000 each has been announced for 12 accused who are still wanted in the case. As many as 18 bank accounts have been frozen through which transactions of Rs 3,000-Rs 4,000 crore had been detected.