BikeBot scam: EOW recovers 223 bikes in four days

LUCKNOW The state’s Economic Offence Wing (EOW) teams have over the past four days recovered 223 motorcycles from five districts of western Uttar Pradesh. The recovery is significant as it is in connection with the multicrore Bike Bot ponzi scam.

Director general of EOW Rajendra Pal Singh said all motorcycles carried stickers of Garvit Promoters firm operated by a former Bahujan Samaj Party leader Sanjay Bhati, who had cheated people under the garb of a multi-level marketing scheme by launching the bike taxi service ‘Bike Bot’. The investors were lured to invest in Bike Bot motorcycle taxi services and promised double the amount in one year.

“While 178 motorcycles were recovered during raids at different places in Ghaziabad, Muzaffarnagar, Hapur, Baghpat and Meerut on Monday, 45 more motorcycles were recovered from two places in Meerut on Thursday, Singh added.

He said the EOW initiated probe into the scam in March this year but the proceedings were delayed due to lockdown. Singh said the state police headquarters had asked the EOW to probe the matterontherecommendationof police commissioner of Gautam Buddh Nagar after 57 FIRs related to the ponzi scheme were registered there.

The recovery done on Monday included 72 motorcycles from Ghaziabad, 50 from Muzaffarnagar,

22 from Hapur, 21 from Meerut and 13 from Baghpat and 21 and 24 motorcycles were recovered from the firm’s promoters Karnesh Sharma and Sunny Jatt in Meerut.

The police officials said more recoveries are likely in the same sequence. In the case, Enforcement Directorate (ED) is also probing the money laundering aspect since February earlier this year. Singh said the initial probe hinted that the scheme operators had allegedly duped over 2 lakh people in Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Delhi, Maharashtra, Punjab and Haryana by offering them lucrative scheme of investing ₹62,200, a cost of one bike, and attractive returns of ₹9,765 every month for one year, totaling over ₹1.17 lakh.

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