Another bike scam busted in Noida, three arrested for ₹30 crore fraud

The suspects – Bablu Yadav (28), Rohit Chauhan (30) and Jivan (29) – had allegedly incorporated a fictitious company – E-wheel Transit Solutions Pvt Ltd and floated the motorcycle scheme though it.

Noida Police on Monday busted another motorcycle investment scam and arrested three persons from Sector 63 who had allegedly floated a motorcycle scheme – Bike for You – and duped nearly 6,000 investors of around ₹30 crore.

The accused allegedly lured investors to make a pyramid network and asked them to add more investors to earn commissions. (Sunil Ghosh / HT Photo)

The suspects – Bablu Yadav (28), Rohit Chauhan (30) and Jivan (29) – had allegedly incorporated a fictitious company – E-wheel Transit Solutions Pvt Ltd and floated the motorcycle scheme though it.

According to the police, Rohit is a resident of Roorkee in Uttrakhand while Jeevan belongs to Agra. Bablu, from Etah and a local history sheeter, was allegedly made managing director of the company to threaten investors and manage any “unwanted situations”, the police said. While Rohit holds an MBA degree, the other two accomplices are school drop outs, they added.

This scheme was on the lines of Bike Bot, in which 2.25 lakh investors were allegedly duped of nearly ₹1,500 crore.

The suspects in the ‘Bike for You’ scheme allegedly incorporated the company in August 2018. The allegedly lured investors to make a pyramid network and asked them to add more investors to earn commissions.

Snior superintendent of police Vaibhav Krishna, said Prashant Vats, an investor, had filed a complaint at Phase III police station on April 26. Prashant, a resident of Baghpat, alleged the firm sought ₹60,250 as investment per motorcycle and promised ₹9,000 as returns per month for one year. “I made the investment but the suspects did not credit any returns. When I demanded my investment back, the suspects did not give a satisfactory reply,” he alleged in the complaint.

The suspects allegedly marketed the scheme on social media platforms and through word of mouth. “They trapped investors from Noida, Ghaziabad, Meerut, Bulandshahr and Delhi, among others, through social media platforms and personal contacts,” Devendra Singh, in-charge, Phase III police station, said.

When investors started mounting pressure, the suspects, in April, allegedly locked the company premises and fled. Investors had organised a protest at the firm’s premises last month.

Based on Prashant’s complaint, the police had registered a case under IPC sections 420 (cheating) and 406 (criminal breach of trust) of against Bablu, Rohit, Shalabh Kumar, Ajit Kumar and Vaibhav Kumar.

The SSP said the suspects were put on surveillance and were held from a liquor kiosk in Garhi village. “We recovered three cars and eight motorcycles,” he said.

The suspects were produced in court and sent to custody. “We have launched a search for the absconding suspects,” the SSO said.