Deepti, who lived in Loni, is one of the key accused in the Bike Bot scam. She is the wife of mastermind Sanjay Bhati, who ran the operation from Noida in the garb of promoting a bike taxi venture. Probe agencies have come up with different estimates about the scale of the fraud as its threads have run into state after state. The Meerut economic offences wing, which is probing the case, estimates it to be at Rs 4,500 crore with more than 250 cases registered across the country. Deepti, who is in her 40s, has been absconding since the first cases in the scam were filed in 2019.
Deepti has been at large since first cases in Bike Bot scam filed in 2019
Noida: Deepti Bahal, who lived in Loni, is one of the main accused in the Bike Bot scam. An EOW official in Meerut told TOI that in 2019, the UP Police investigating the scam found her husband Sanjay Bhati and his family members incorporated a real estate company called Garvit Innovative Promoters Limited (GIPL) on August 20, 2010. This company, being run from Greater Noida, became the promoter of Bike Bot.
"In August 2017, Bhati launched the scheme - 'Bike Bot - the bike taxi powered by GIPL' through his firm and Deepti was made additional director in the company," the official said.
During one of the court hearings, her lawyer, however, claimed that she was a non-executive director of the company and had resigned from the firm on February 14, 2017.
Deepti, who is in her 40s, has been absconding since the first cases in the Bike Bot scam were filed in 2019. "During the investigation, we found that she was a teacher in Baghpat before marriage. However, no proper record of her existence in the college was found," the official said.
TOI found that the website of Baraut College of Education, Baghpat (barautcollegeofeducation.org) mentions Deepti as its principal. It also mentions Deepti holds an MA and a PhD. The college is affiliated with Chaudhary Charan Singh University.
The first bounty on Deepti's capture, of Rs 50,000, was announced in 2020 by the EOW. In March 2021, investigating agencies attached her residence in Loni. Earlier, teams that searched her house in Meerut found she had left the city around 10 years back.
Last year, the Supreme Court issued an order to club all the cases filed in the scam. Sources told TOI that Deepti may have fled the country soon after. Currently, proceedings to issue a red corner notice against Deepti and Bhudev Singh, another accused in the case, are under way.
"Deepti is named in all the 118 cases registered in Greater Noida and over 150 others filed across the country. Thirty-one people and 13 companies, used for money laundering, have been named in the chargesheet," the official said.
So far, police have impounded vehicles - a Range Rover and a Fortuner among them - registered in the name of Garvit Innovators. Assets worth over Rs 216 crore have also been seized.
The Bike Bot scheme promised large returns to customers on their investment in motorcycles that were supposed to be used as two-wheeler taxis. Investors were asked to pay Rs 62,100 for one bike. The company offered an EMI of Rs 5,175 per month and fixed the rental at Rs 4,590 per bike per month. The scheme also included a monthly rental income bonus of 5% per bike. To gain the trust of investors, the company signed an agreement with them assuring their money was safe and the return on investment was secure.
An FIR filed with the CBI reads: "It is further alleged that in order to extract money from investors, the company put out advertisements like 'Bike bot - the bike taxi powered by GIPL scheme will be enclosed very soon and that persons desirous to avail this scheme must deposit money hurriedly. On such advertisements, about 2 lakh investors invested money."
The scheme was floated in August 2017 and the process of collecting money from investors and issuing repayments to them went on till early 2019. In November 2018, the company floated another scheme for e-bikes. The subscription amount for the e-bikes was almost double the investment amounts for regular petrol bikes.
In 2019, nearly two lakh investors who participated in the scheme approached the police and filed complaints against Bhati and his firm when they did not receive the returns promised to them.
The CBI probe is also looking into the role of Noida officials. "... (the) fact remains that complaints were submitted and fraudulent activity of the company was in the knowledge of the Noida district authority as well as police authorities who did not take any action. Rather, the SSP and SP crime branch pressured the complainants to withdraw their complaints," reads the CBI's FIR.
Later, the Enforcement Directorate initiated a money-laundering investigation into the scam on the basis of various FIRs registered at Dadri police station against Garvit Innovative Promoters Ltd, Sanjay Bhati and others. Bhati surrendered before a local court in Surajpur in 2019.
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