mPhone launched without disruption.
By Sreekanth A Nair
The promoters of the much hyped Mango Phone (mPhone) were arrested by police for defrauding a bank just a few hours before the launch of the new mobile phone, in Kochi, on Monday.
The promoters of Kochi-based mPhone Electronics and Technologies, Anto Augustine, 32, and Josekutty Augustine, 24, both brothers from Wayanad, Kerala, were arrested for defrauding Bank of Baroda using forged documents to avail a loan.
They were arrested from a hotel in Kochi where the launch of the mobile phone was scheduled.
According to the police, the duo had duped the Kalamassery branch of Bank of Baroda by submitting forged documents of a property which was already pledged for $1.67 million.
“The brothers secured the loan from Bank of Baroda by mortgaging the properties that were already mortgaged with SBT. Some of the documents submitted for this were forged,” said police.
Both of them had been absconding for a year.
“A case has been registered based on a complaint lodged by Bank of Baroda authorities, and a detailed inquiry is underway,” police said.
They have been charged with criminal breach of trust and cheating.
Police also said that the accused had duped many other banks, including State Bank of Travancore, and more details would be available after an investigation.
The Bank of Baroda officials had filed a complaint against them, earlier. But the accused brothers went absconding since then. Officials of the bank informed the police when they saw their photo on Facebook, leading to the arrest.
The company is also co-owned by their other sibling Rojy Augustine, who is chairman of the company.
However, the launch event of the new mobile phone was not interrupted by the arrest of the brothers.
Rojy Augustine alleged a conspiracy behind the arrests.
“We have no knowledge about the complaint lodged by Bank of Baroda. The police neither probed the matter nor did they ever seek our explanation. The police were acting under pressure from someone who wants to sabotage the company,” he told New Indian Express.
The company has reportedly an initial investment of $507 million and a research and development center in Korea. The main manufacturing unit of the company is in Shenzhen, China.
The company had claimed that their mPhone would revolutionize the mobile phone market with models with prices ranging from $84 to $580. They had also given full page advertisements in leading Malayalam dailies.
Videos
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1 Comment
All are rebranded Elephone Models, They don’t own anything in Korea or Shenzen China, Another Fraud Company which starts its launch with a fraud with Bank of Baroda