A 47-year-old woman was arrested from south Goa for allegedly duping people by inducing them to invest in her app-based taxi aggregator company on the pretext of assured high returns, the police said on Monday.
Others involved
The police said one Dharmender, along with other victims, accused a company called SMP Impex Pvt. Ltd. (Hello Taxi) and its office-bearers Saroj Mahapatra, Rajesh Mahto, Sunder Bhati, Harish Bhati, and the woman director of cheating them by inducing them to invest in their company Hello Taxi and promised to pay higher rate of interest, up to 200%, on a monthly basis.
However, they neither paid the interest nor returned the money. There were more than 900 investors so far and the amount involved is around ₹250 crore, said the police.
“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,” Joint Commissioner of Police (EOW) O.P. Mishra said.
The company accepted bookings from the investors without taking approval from the authorities concerned like RBI or SEBI, the police said.
They initially paid returns to the investors to win their confidence, but later stopped the payments after collecting huge amounts, and escaped, the police said.
The locations of the company also changed frequently to trap new victims.
Initially, the company started its operation from Ghaziabad. After a couple of months, they shifted to Patparganj Industrial Area and then Sector 16 in Rohini, Mr. Mishra said.
The firm’s bank accounts were frozen after scrutiny of statements. Over ₹3.27 crore of cheated money was found. Sixty new cars worth ₹3.5 crore purchased from the cheated amount were seized at Noida, the police said. Rajesh Mahto was arrested on August 23, the police said.
Several teams were constituted to trace and nab the accused persons. On the basis of secret information, the police apprehended the woman from south Goa, Mr. Mishra said. One luxury car, purchased from the cheated amount, has also been recovered from her possession.