The Freedom 251 story is one I find genuinely hard to believe every time I tell it. A ₹251 smartphone. Announced in February 2016 with full-page newspaper ads. Crashed every server it touched. Became global news. And then — predictably — it all fell apart. Ringing Bells Pvt Ltd and its founder Mohit Goel created one of the most talked-about and chaotic episodes in Indian tech history. Here’s the full ownership story.
| Company | Ringing Bells Pvt Ltd |
| Founders | Mohit Goel & Ashok Chadha |
| Product | Freedom 251 — ₹251 smartphone (Feb 2016) |
| Controversy | Massive cheating allegations; Mohit Goel arrested 2017 |
| Status | Company defunct; legal cases ongoing |
| Registrations taken | ~7.3 crore (73 million) within days |
Who Owns Ringing Bells / Freedom 251?
Ringing Bells Pvt Ltd was founded by Mohit Goel (CEO) and Ashok Chadha (President), both from Noida, Uttar Pradesh. On February 17, 2016, they announced the Freedom 251 — a smartphone priced at just ₹251 (roughly $3.70 at the time), claiming it was made possible by government subsidies and a “Make in India” initiative. The announcement went viral instantly; over 30,000 orders flooded in within seconds, and the website crashed repeatedly. Over 7.3 crore (73 million) people registered interest. However, the phones never shipped to most buyers, the “Adcom” branding on demo phones was painted over, and serious questions arose about the business model’s viability. In July 2017, Mohit Goel was arrested on cheating charges filed by customers who had paid ₹251 and never received a phone. Ringing Bells essentially collapsed, leaving millions of pre-order customers with no product and no refund. The company never recovered, and Goel faced prolonged legal proceedings. This remains one of the most spectacular consumer fraud cases in India’s startup history. For a genuine Indian smartphone success-turned-failure story, see who owns CREO.
| Entity | Role | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Mohit Goel | Co-founder & CEO | Arrested 2017; legal proceedings |
| Ashok Chadha | Co-founder & President | Exited |
| Ringing Bells Pvt Ltd | Operating company | Defunct |
Key Milestones
| Year | Milestone |
|---|---|
| February 17, 2016 | Freedom 251 announced at ₹251 — becomes global news instantly |
| February 18, 2016 | Website crashes under 30,000 orders/second; 7.3 crore registrations in days |
| March 2016 | Demo phones revealed to have “Adcom” branding painted over — credibility collapses |
| May 2016 | Ringing Bells announces it will begin deliveries; few hundred phones actually shipped |
| 2017 | Mohit Goel arrested for cheating; company operations cease |
| 2018–2026 | Legal cases continue; company defunct; no meaningful operations |
My Take on Ringing Bells
The Freedom 251 saga is a perfect storm of wishful thinking, poor execution, and outright fraud. The ₹251 price was always mathematically impossible for a working smartphone — even in 2016, the components for the cheapest Android handset cost at least 10x that. Everyone who paid attention knew something was wrong when those “Adcom” phones appeared with painted-over logos. But 73 million people registered their interest anyway, which says something profound about the depth of unmet demand for affordable phones in India. That demand was real. Jio and cheap Android devices eventually addressed it legitimately. Ringing Bells just tried to exploit it. Mohit Goel deserved every legal consequence he faced.
