UP STF arrests woman director of bike tax firm for Rs 100 cr fraud

Lucknow, July 30 : The UP Special Task Force (STF) has arrested a woman director of a bike taxi company operating from Lucknow, allegedly involved in over a Rs 100 crore fraud with thousands of investors.

Senior STF officials said the woman director, identified as Neelam Verma, a resident of Lucknow’s Para area, was arrested from behind RK marriage lawns in Bahadurkheda locality, under the Manak Nagar police station limits of Lucknow, on Saturday.

A senior STF official said she was wanted in 23 criminal cases registered with Lucknow’s Vibhuti Khand and Hazratganj police stations in the matter since 2019.

He said that along with key accused Abhay Kushwaha -- lodged in Lucknow jail in the same matter -- Rajesh Pandey, Nikhil Kushwaha, Azam Siddiqui and Shakeel Ahmad Khan, she was the director of the firm.

The official said that during interrogation, the woman revealed that Abhay Kushwaha first floated a real estate firm in 2013 and then he floated a bike taxi company ‘Hello Ride’ and opened its office on the eighth floor of Cyber Heights building.

The STF officials claimed that Kushwaha and his accomplices lured investors to pay for a motorcycle that was supposed to be used as a two-wheeler taxi.

“In exchange, the investors were promised a massive return on their investment.Each investor was asked to pay Rs 61,000 for one bike.

They promised a monthly return of 9,582 for 12 months,” explained the official.

They said that customers who invested in one bike were promised a total return of over Rs 1,14,984 lakh in one year on investing just Rs 61,000 and the investors were free to invest in multiple bikes.

The officials said nearly 150 employees in seven teams were employed with this firm and the head of each team was given 15 per cent commission on deposits made every month.

“They all deposited over Rs 100 crore through this Ponzi scheme and vanished with the hard-earned money of investors after closing their office,” he said.

amita/dpb