Mystery of Freedom 251 Deepens as Ringing Bells Is Now Refunding Money; Hindi Newspaper Claims Their Office Is Closed

The mystery over the magical Rs 251 worth of ‘Make in India’ phone called Freedom 251 has deepened, as the company behind this ‘fiasco’ has decided to refund money. As per latest news coming up, Mohit Goel, founder of Ringing Bells has claimed that they are refunding money to all 30,000 customers who had paid the money for this phone.

Ringing Bells president Ashok Chadha recently said, “To refund the money that was facilitated by payment gateways CCAvenue and PayU Biz, we had given a letter to the respective bank later last week. Now the only hiccup is what we call procedural delay and I hope that people will get back their money this week”

These 30,000 customers had paid the full amount of Rs 251 on day 1 of the launch, which amounts to Rs 75,30,000. After the website stopped accepting new orders, concerns were raised on the future of delivery, which had been promised on June 30^th. Infact, Telecom Ministry had to intervene, and assure everyone that they are looking into the matter. Their Noida based office was also raided by IT Department.

After a huge uproar over the business model, and the genuineness of their claim (after all, Freedom 251 is a re-branded Adcon phone, which cost Rs 4000), the company has decided to only charge money once the phone is delivered. Hence, all future deliveries would be cash based.

Ashok further said, The company has decided that we will, henceforth, offer ‘cash on delivery’ mode of payments for those who have placed an order for the ‘Freedom 251’ smartphone. This will ensure further transparency and clear any misgivings..”

Note here, that the website is not accepting new orders as of now.

The question: “Is Freedom 251 a Scam” has now further deepened, as people are not actually aware whether they will get the phone for Rs 251 or not. The plot further mystified when Government distanced themselves from the ‘Make in India’ hype.

Amitabh Kant, secretary of the department of industrial policy and promotion (DIPP) tweeted, “This is not a government project. ‘Make in India’ team has nothing to do with this.”

Has Ringing Bells Closed Their Office?

Meanwhile, a Hindi newspaper reported that Ringing Bells has closed down their office, and no one is presently working there.

The news clip became viral all over the web, and the mystery further deepened.

We have not yet authenticated the news about closure of their office; but one thing is clear: Sometimes, it becomes way too easy to fool people by advertising in top newspapers.

We will keep you updated as more details come in.

Have you received your money from Ringing Bells? Do let us know by commenting right here!