Ringing Bells MD’s bail plea rejected again
March 01, 2017A court in Ghaziabad has rejected the bail plea of Ringing Bells’ former Managing Director Mohit Goel, for the second time.
The court of Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Lokesh Kumar, which had denied his bail plea but struck down serious charges of forgery and criminal conspiracy against him, turned down his bail plea again, observing that no new situation had arisen for him to get relief.
Goel was arrested on February 23 after an FIR was filed by Ghaziabad-based Ayam Enterprises, alleging that Ringing Bells defrauded it of Rs 16 lakh.
Police had registered an FIR against Goel and four other directors, under sections 467 (forgery of valuable security, will), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged document or electronic record), 406 (punishment for criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) and 120b (criminal conspiracy) of Indian Penal Code. Out of these, charges of cheating and criminal breach of trust have been retained by the court against Goel and the four others.
Ringing Bells shot to sudden fame in February last year after it announced to sell Smartphone’s at a remarkably low price of Rs 251 and promised to deliver 2.5 million handsets before June 30. It received massive registration of over 70 million before its payment gateway crashed. Later it announced that it had delivered five thousand Smartphone’s to customers in July last year and would deliver 65,000 more to those who had booked the device in cash on delivery mode.
The world’s cheapest phone made a splash across the globe, with almost every big media house writing about the “miracle device”. Doubts were initially raised over Ringing Bells’ handset after some experts said no Smartphone could be manufactured for less than Rs 2,000.
The court of Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Lokesh Kumar, which had denied his bail plea but struck down serious charges of forgery and criminal conspiracy against him, turned down his bail plea again, observing that no new situation had arisen for him to get relief.
Goel was arrested on February 23 after an FIR was filed by Ghaziabad-based Ayam Enterprises, alleging that Ringing Bells defrauded it of Rs 16 lakh.
Police had registered an FIR against Goel and four other directors, under sections 467 (forgery of valuable security, will), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged document or electronic record), 406 (punishment for criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) and 120b (criminal conspiracy) of Indian Penal Code. Out of these, charges of cheating and criminal breach of trust have been retained by the court against Goel and the four others.
Ringing Bells shot to sudden fame in February last year after it announced to sell Smartphone’s at a remarkably low price of Rs 251 and promised to deliver 2.5 million handsets before June 30. It received massive registration of over 70 million before its payment gateway crashed. Later it announced that it had delivered five thousand Smartphone’s to customers in July last year and would deliver 65,000 more to those who had booked the device in cash on delivery mode.
The world’s cheapest phone made a splash across the globe, with almost every big media house writing about the “miracle device”. Doubts were initially raised over Ringing Bells’ handset after some experts said no Smartphone could be manufactured for less than Rs 2,000.
OUR TAKE
The decision of the court to reject the bail plea is just and fair. This decision is an example of precautionary approach by the court, to safeguard the interest of the innocent public and teach a lesson to such fraudsters, who think they may get away with the legal consequences with technological manipulation.
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