ED attaches fresh assets in PMLA case against UP-based bike taxi aggregator

The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday said it has attached fresh assets worth more than Rs 5 crore as part of a money laundering investigation against an Uttar Pradesh-based bike taxi aggregator and its promoters.

A provisional order under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) has been issued against the company, Hello Ride Limited, its directors, presidents, agents and others, the ED said in a statement.

The attached properties, which include agricultural land and plots, are located in Prayagraj, Kanpur and Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh. The total value of these properties is Rs 5.35 crore, it said.

The ED had earlier frozen properties worth Rs 2.38 crore in this case and the total attachment now stands at Rs 7.73 crore.

The money laundering case stems from about three dozen FIRs filed by the Uttar Pradesh Police against the company and its promoters Abhay Kumar Kushwaha, Neelam Verma, Nikhil Kushwah, Rajesh Pandey, Shaqeel Ahmad, Ragini Gupta and others.

Abhay Kushwaha along with his associates "generated proceeds of crime" after the company launched a bike taxi scheme under the brand name Hello Ride, similar to the services provided by aggregators such as Ola and Uber, the ED said.

The company promised to pay Rs 9,585 per month for 12 months on an initial investment of Rs 61,000 per bike. On the allurement of such a high return on investment, Hello Ride and its directors and agents collected huge deposits from the general public, it said.

As alleged, the ED said, the total amount (allegedly collected from investors) involved in 33 police FIRs is Rs 10,93,71,000.

The promoters purchased these immovable properties between 2018 and 2019 by utilising the "proceeds of crime" and they were purchased at an "undervalued price" on record, but huge cash component was also involved in the transactions, the agency alleged.