Court asks government not to take coercive action against Ringing Bells, founders

NEW DELHI: The Allahabad High Court has asked the Uttar Pradesh government not to take any coercive action against Ringing Bells, seller of the cheapest smartphone in the world priced at Rs 251, till May 18, the next hearing.

A division bench of Justice B K Narayan and Justice R N Mishra said that the company should be given time to fulfil their commitment and that the FIR seemed premature.

An FIR was filed on a complaint by BJP MP Kirit Somaiya against Mohit Goel, Dharna Garg and Ashok Chadha, the founders of Ringing Bells, for alleged misleading advertisements and collecting money under a ponzi scheme.

According to a statement by Ringing Bells on Thursday evening, the court has also allowed the company to move an application for release of their passports.

“We are very happy with today's order. We shall now press for quashing of the FIR as there is no merit in the FIR and extraneous factors have gone into lodging of this FIR,” Abhishek Vikram, legal counsel for Ringing Bells said.

The lawyer added that Ringing Bells has sold 28,000 units of its other products and has developed innovative strategies to meet its cost for delivering the smartphone for Rs. 251 to its customers.

The Noida Police had on Tuesday submitted its status report before the Court stating that all money collected as advance from customers for smartphone 'Freedom 251' had been duly refunded to all the customers.