By Advitya Bahl

Greater Noida, Jun 18 (IANS): The Gautam Buddh Nagar police suspects involvement of high-profile persons in the alleged 'Bike Bot' ponzi scheme run by arrested BSP leader Sanjay Bhati and will seek his custody again for further questioning, a senior police officer said on Tuesday.

More than 2 lakh people invested Rs 62,100 each in the ponzi scheme. While police had earlier estimated that the scam to be of around Rs 1,400 crore, but following further inquiries, now believe the magnitude of the scam to be much higher.

The Greater Noida-based firm had come out with the multi-level marketing scheme 'Bike Bot' and lured investors with a promise of double returns in one year.

According to the police, Bhati, who had been in five-day police custody which ended on Monday, was not cooperative and did not reveal much.

"But we have come to know that 172 luxury cars including Audi, BMW, Jaguar, etc were purchased on the company's name and were gifted. We are trying to trace the people and recover them. As many as 102 bikes and 8 luxury cars have been recovered so far," he said.

"We suspect the involvement of several high-profile people, who were behind Bhati. In order to unearth the entire scam, we will be asking for his police custody again. The next hearing is on June 20," said a senior police officer.

Bhati and other top officials of Garvit Innovative Promoters Ltd (GIPL), known for its motorcycle taxis operating in western Uttar Pradesh districts such as Gautam Buddh Nagar, Ghaziabad, Hapur and Bulandshahr and also in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Haryana, were wanted for cheating and had cases registered against them in Greater Noida and several other states.

The Greater Noida-based firm had come out with the multi-level marketing scheme "Bike Bot" and lured investors with a promise of double returns in one year.

It is in this connection, police will be seeking custody of Bhati, who was arrested on June 7 and sent to judicial custody, again for further questioning to get to the bottom of the case, the police officer said.

According to police, the company had used internet, social media, pamphlets, and motivators who would spread word about the scheme and encourage gullible people to invest in it. "The investors were assured of some extra bonus if they could connect more investors with the scheme," a police officer said.

Police have said that on Saturday, a team had visited the company's head office located in Dadri and found a 100 motorcycles, burnt computers and five bags filled with cheques.

Sources in the Economic Offences Wing revealed that the company had got nearly 7,000 bikes, out of which 2,000 were registered and the remaining unregistered.