Ringing Bells ‘general manager’ held

Ghaziabad police on Monday night arrested second of the five accused named in the FIR lodged against officials of smartphone firm Ringing Bells.

The arrested is Sumit Kumar, who was the alleged general manager of the firm. Even though Sumit claims he was an accountant, Mohit Goel, the former company MD said he was the general manager. Earlier, the police had arrested Goel, while a court sent him to 14 days of judicial custody to Dasna jail.

Ringing Bells had shot to limelight after it announced ‘Freedom 251’, touted as the world’s cheapest smartphone, at a price of ₹251 apiece.

“Continuing investigations with the FIR lodged for cheating, forgery and criminal conspiracy, the accused Sumit Kumar was arrested, and about ₹14.9 lakh cash and some documents were seized from him. He will be produced before the court on Tuesday. Search is on for the other accused persons in the case ,” said Manish Mishra, circle officer (city), who is leading the probe.

Police said that the accused was arrested along with an alleged forged approval letter, dated November 22, 2014, of the Cellular Operators Association of India and a cheque book of the company. Sumit hails from Muzaffarpur in Bihar and stays at Mandawali in Delhi.

The case was filed at Sihani Gate station on February 22 by Akshay Malhotra, one of the company’s distributors based in Ghaziabad, who alleged that the company failed to pay back his balance amount of ₹16 lakh.

Apart from Goel, the FIR named the current MD and Goel’s brother Anmol Goel, Goel’s wife Dharna Garg, general manager Sumit Kumar and Goel’s partner Ashok Chaddha. Chaddha and Goel are now officials of a new firm.