Organisers of start-up convention booked in G Noida

Greater Noida: The organisers of a three-day event called ‘World Start-up Convention’, which is being held at the India Expo Mart in Greater Noida, have been booked by the Gautam Budh Nagar police after participants of the event filed a complaint against them on Friday

Greater Noida: The organisers of a three-day event called ‘World Start-up Convention’, which is being held at the India Expo Mart in Greater Noida, have been booked by the Gautam Budh Nagar police after participants of the event filed a complaint against them on Friday.

Organisers of start-up convention booked in G Noida

The action came after scores of entrepreneurs staged a protest at the venue on Friday afternoon.

As per the complainants, the event organisers promised that over 2,400 investors will be at the event to raise funds for start-up founders present at the event. However, the participants, who had come from all across the country, found that barely four to five investors were present at the event.

“The organisers, claimed it to be the ‘world’s biggest start-up funding festival’ and sold tickets starting from ₹6,990 to ₹25,000 with the promise that many investors and venture capitalists will be present at the event. However, there were barely three to four investors at the present”, said Shubhashish Chakraborty, an entrepreneur who had come from Kolkata and had bought a ticket for ₹6,990.

Chakraborty added that as per the event schedule, Union minister Nitin Gadkari was supposed to speak at the event on Friday via video conference, but it was cancelled as well.

By around 2pm, an angry crowd of over 500 people started protesting against the organisers, asking them to refund their ticket money. Police also reached the venue to pacify the protesters.

“There were around 500 people at the event who were asking for a refund of their money. Police personnel tried to pacify them and spoke to the organisers, who said that investors will come in the next two days of the event,” said Ashok Kumar, additional deputy commissioner of police, Greater Noida.

By evening, 16 participants lodged a complaint at the Knowledge Park police station against the organisers.

Delhi-based lawyer Raghumanyu Taneja who submitted the complaint said, “The event organisers made false claims to sell tickets to entrepreneurs and start-up founders. There were no investors, and it was nothing short of a scam. The organisers have used pictures of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union minister Nitin Gadkari to mislead the victims and promote the event”. He said he bought a ticket for ₹8,000 and was looking to raise funds for his start-up.

Based on the complaint, an FIR was registered against two organisers of the event under Section 420 (cheating) and 406 (criminal breach of trust) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), police said.

VK Singh, station house officer (SHO) of Knowledge Park police station said, “Police teams are investigating the claims in the complaint and the organisers are being questioned. We have increased police deployment at the venue”.

An official statement from India Expo Mart said, “We only provide space and other logistics services to various companies and third parties for holding exhibitions”.

The organisers of the event did not respond to calls and messages despite repeated attempts.