Kanpur: Two years after the Covid-19 pandemic first struck, ravaging lives and economies, especially small businesses in India, one Rajeev Dubey in Uttar Pradesh’s Kanpur stumbled upon an Israeli research paper.
The paper, emphasised the role of oxygen in “re-energising” cells and organs of the human body. Intake of the life-sustaining gas in its purest form (at high pressure), it said, could reverse ageing and help people with organ-related ailments mount a complete recovery.
Dubey was taken in by the concept and came up with an idea.
A little over two years later, he is on the Uttar Pradesh police’s radar after one of his early ‘investors’ filed an FIR, accusing him of defrauding her and hundreds of others under the guise of ‘anti-ageing’ treatment. This treatment was given inside a chamber-sized machine ‘imported from Israel’ that could seat as many as 10 people at one time.
Though there are contrasting versions of the sequence of events right from the inception of the idea, investigators have so far established a money trail of Rs 76 lakh to the bank account of Dubey’s firm, Revival World. Of this, nearly Rs 40 lakh appear to have been transferred by nearly 500 subscribers, according to the police probe so far.
The scope of the alleged fraud is Rs 2 crore at the most, a senior police officer said on condition of anonymity, adding the initial claim about the extent being Rs 35 crore is yet to be substantiated. Investigators are now looking at the internal structure and customer acquisition practices at Revival World, besides the origin of the ‘anti-ageing’ machine.
But police sources said evidence uncovered so far has blurred the line between accused and complainants—the latter were also ‘investors’. “What needs to be investigated is the distinction between the facilitators, who propagated the schemes to people below them in the pyramid and victims who actually got duped,” said a second senior police officer.
‘Capitalised’ on loss of loved ones
Dubey, it is learnt, had the idea to set up a plant to manufacture the ‘anti-ageing’ machine sometime in early 2022. He never intended to import it from Israel and approached Vayu Industries, a firm which supplies oxygen plants to hospitals, looking to strike a deal.
The son of the proprietor of Vayu Industries was a regular at the gym franchise Dubey bought in 2019. The franchise was becoming unsustainable due to high monthly rent and collapsed footfall when the pandemic actually came to his rescue, police sources said.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Kanpur Nagar) South Zone Ankita Sharma told ThePrint, “He (Dubey) discussed setting up the oxygen chamber to give HBOT (hyperbaric oxygen therapy) treatment and Vayu Industries agreed to build it for him with a quotation of Rs 40 lakh. However, midway through the process, they had a fallout over a monetary dispute leading to Vayu Industries abandoning the build midway.”
Dubey then roped in local welders to complete the chamber-sized machine which was later presented to the complainant and other ‘investors’.
“He capitalised on emotional sentiments of people who had fresh memories of loved ones dying of oxygen deficiency and banked on the same concept to attract customers,” said Renu Singh Chandel, the complainant. She further alleged that Dubey offered subscribers a referral commission for every customer onboarded and relied on aggressive marketing.
Confirming that he struck a deal with Vayu Industries, Dubey insisted that he did not compromise on the quality of material used for the build of the machine even after Vayu Industries pulled out of the project. He conceded to ThePrint that he learnt about HBOT through news channels and decided it was worthwhile to set up a machine that could give HBOT treatment after discovering that a prominent hospital in Kanpur had started using it.
Line between ‘investment’ and ‘fraud’
Both ‘investors’ and investigators said Revival World, with its therapy centre in Kanpur’s Kidwai Nagar, primarily offered two plans: 12 ‘oxygen bars’ and ‘oxygen facials’ for a one-time payment of Rs 6,000; and hyperbaric oxygen therapy for subscribers who made a one-time payment of Rs 90,000.
Chandel and other ‘investors’ including Abhishek Mishra, Amit Verma and Ashraf Khan allege Dubey’s business operated on a multi-level marketing model—bringing in more subscribers fast would unlock greater discounts. If a subscriber unlocked the 100-percent discount slab, they would get the Rs 90,000-package free of cost, which they could resell.
“Lured in by the potential profit of Rs 90,000 or even more as Dubey projected the price of therapy to go up, we put in our money as well and brought in people to invest in this scheme. Those people are now asking for their money from us,” said Mishra, who was among Dubey’s first ‘investors’. Chandel argued that she and the others saw the idea as a “safe investment” since there was a massive demand for liquid oxygen in the city.
Dubey, however, claimed Chandel, Mishra and the others had been pushing multi-level marketing schemes and approached him with an offer.
They offered to bring in customers for a commission, pitching it as a ‘win-win’ since it would reduce spend on customer acquisition, he said.
The second senior police officer quoted earlier said the probe is still ongoing, but “it is clear that complainants, others also invested money in the business and referred the scheme to hundreds of others”.
From ‘partnership’ to ‘extortion’
Both Chandel and Mishra claimed they saw through Dubey’s lie that the ‘anti-ageing’ machine he advertised was ‘imported from Israel’ since the make and finish of the chamber-sized machine indicated it was something “made in the local market”.
“We could see clearly that there were welding marks. The carpet used on the surface of the machine was roughly cut, clearly suggesting it was not made by any Israeli company because they wouldn’t provide such an unfinished product,” said Mishra.
Dubey, on the other hand, claimed 11 subscribers who paid Rs 90,000 for HBOT sessions since the launch of the ‘anti-ageing’ machine in November 2022 got their due, and that the business had to be brought to a close since it became unsustainable by July-August last year. Among those who paid for the HBOT sessions was a sub-inspector who, it is learnt, spent Rs 2.55 lakh in two tranches between November 2022 and January 2023.
But Chandel and the others challenged Dubey’s claim, contending instead that his ‘con’ was up the moment he unveiled the ‘anti-ageing’ machine. Those who invested demanded their money back and Dubey began to evade their calls, they said, adding that he shrugged it off by acting as if nothing had happened and instead offered them a gym membership.
“When we realised we had given him ample opportunity to refund the money invested by us and people we referred him to, we decided to lodge a complaint,” said Chandel.
Confronted with these claims, Dubey said, “I kept paying them in accounts (bank transfers) and cash in the name of refunds to customers who had purportedly signed up. I have messages from them till April 2024 thanking me because I was continuously paying them.”
The matter, claimed Dubey, was settled, until four months ago when Chandel approached him saying he owed her nearly Rs 11 lakh. Dubey said he learnt about the police case through media reports and “fled in fear”.
He appeared before the police to record his first statement Monday.
Kanpur police maintained a probe is underway to establish the timeline of payments made to Revival World. “It’s clear that fraud was perpetrated in the name of providing oxygen therapy using a machine which was not made by certified medical professionals or agencies and hence Dubey is liable to face action,” said DCP Sharma.
The second police officer quoted earlier added that investigators have approached the district Chief Medical Officer (CMO) to ascertain “violation of treatment protocols” and are also looking to rope in “experts from technical institutions who can prepare a comprehensive report on the safety parameters of the machine”.
Dubey, meanwhile, alleged, “All these complainants are not genuine customers. They are a group of network marketing agents who habitually do this work. I am a businessman, it’s them who are marketing agents who propagated the package to people.”
Adding, “Their mediators offered me to pay up approximately Rs 5 lakh by trying to intimidate me saying my arrest was imminent. I am considering filing an FIR for extortion against Chandel and others for harassing my family and making false allegations.”
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
Also Read: Why ED is accusing Amway of ‘pyramid fraud’, duping customers of ‘hard-earned money’