Ringing Bells founder and CEO Mohit Goel, who once hogged the limelight by offering the world’s cheapest smartphone for just Rs.251, was arrested by the police on Sunday in an extortion case. The Youth had reported earlier that how Mohit Goel fooled people legally. According to News agency- ANI’s report, the arrested ones were reportedly trying to obtain money from a businessman to ‘settle a rape case’ in Delhi.
It was on March 6, a case was lodged in Alwar district in Rajasthan based on a complaint from a woman, in which she had alleged that she was raped by five businessmen. The woman also had alleged that she was invited to attend an event at a hotel, where she was raped by five people. The police had subsequently arrested all the five accused.
“The police have arrested three members of a gang, who were trying to extort money to settle a rape case registered by one of them against the brother of the complainant and others in Rajasthan,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (North West) Aslam Khan told ANI.
In 2016, when Mohit Goel announced that the company would offer Freedom 251 smartphones for an cheap price of Rs. 251. The news went widespread across the globe so much so that almost everyone was keen to buy the phone. It is learnt that over 30,000 customers paid for the gadget and pre-ordered the phone online and about seven crore people registered to buy the phone when it went on sale.
However, the sale faced continuous troubles due to several technical problems. So, the Ringing Bells company later started selling the phone along with several other models and accessories through the most popular website Amazon India. Following that, the company faced many inquiries by police and tax officials and eventually bringing the company to a close.
Last December, Mohit Goel was confident of delivering Freedom 251 to all those who have pre-ordered the gadget. He claimed that despite his responsibility to ‘Make in India’ and ‘Start-up India’ initiative, he did not get support from the government.
