Hours after Congress supporter Ankit Mayank accused Halef International, a movers and packers company, of stealing costly valuables, including jewellery, cash, gold earrings, and other paraphernalia from his house in Bengaluru, the company has rubbished the allegations and asserted that Mayank and his wife had unlawfully detained their team in their house and were extorting the company by manipulating their social media following and making baseless claims.
In a lengthy statement, Halef International laid out in detail the sequence of events that had taken place between Mayank and them and exposed the discrepancies in the claims made by the Congress troll.
“We deeply regret the recent situation involving a couple who used our packing and moving services on August 14th. We want to clarify the sequence of events and our commitment to law and order,” the statement released by Halef International said.
It's important to remember that every situation has multiple perspectives. Let the police investigation and judicial process reveal the truth based on actual facts and evidence. https://t.co/tdcKwqYGu8 pic.twitter.com/mnpfhB2pFS
— Halef International (@halefint2019) August 17, 2024
Congress troll accuses team of movers and packers Halef International of stealing his valuables
The controversy erupted after Ankit Mayank, who goes by the handle @mr_mayank shared a video of a messy house with opened boxes lying disorderly throughout his apartment, blaming the movers and the packers company he had hired as responsible for the mess and for “stealing” valuables, money, and jewellery stored in them. His claims were supported by his wife, Rohini Anand, who sought help from Karnataka CM, Dy CM, and Bengaluru Police through her X account @mrs_roh08.
“I had to shift my house on 14th August, for which I had hired a movers & packers company ‘Halef International Pvt Ltd’ (@halefint2019), But that turned out to be the worst decision & the biggest nightmare of my life,” Mayank tweeted along with the video.
THE MOST HORRIFIC 48 HOURS OF MY LIFE❗
— Ankit Mayank (@mr_mayank) August 16, 2024
I had to shift my house on 14th August, for which I had hired a movers & packers company ‘Halef International Pvt Ltd’ (@halefint2019)
But that turned out to be the worst decision & the biggest nightmare of my life 🧵
PLEASE SHARE 🙏 pic.twitter.com/fjWppEtbAH
In a subsequent post, Mayank claimed that a bag worth Rs 8 lakhs was stolen by their team of 7 people and cash of Rs 2 lakhs, gold earrings, 2 gold bangles and other things had gone missing.
He further added that other expensive items like an imported Dior perfume, limited edition gold-plated 50-year-old pens, and a few bags are either missing or damaged. Tagging the Bengaluru Police, the Congress troll claimed that the organisation is denying responsibility for the ordeal they find themselves in and asked them to pursue the matter seriously and help them get justice.
Company rubbishes allegations of Congress troll, accuses him and his wife of extorting money by manipulating social media following
But hours later, the company responded to the accusations as the thread went viral, with many mocking the Congress troll with “Khatakhat KhataKhat wealth redistribution” and “Karma hits back” jibes. Several other X users also questioned the wisdom of Mayank and his wife for entrusting a movers and packers company with the responsibility to shift valuables, gold ornaments, and cash.
“@mr_mayank didn’t inform us while booking the services with us that he is availing the service for the transportation of cash, jewellery, antique and ancient valuable items as we don’t encourage or entertain such goods transportation. Other security agencies are specialized & authorized for such transportation,” it further added.
The couple booked a packing and moving service on August 14th, the company said, adding that their belongings were moved in two trips, with one family member accompanying the first trip and the couple travelling on the second trip, they later claimed a bag was missing. This claim was made after everything was delivered and set up, despite no prior mention of the bag. The team, supervised by the couple and their family member, searched for the bag until 3:00 AM on August 15th but found nothing. They reported the issue to the Kodigehalli police, who investigated and found nothing suspicious, so no FIR was filed.
“Following this, the couple unlawfully detained the team and house arrested, confiscating the vehicle keys and holding them for 24 hours in their house(14th Aug to 15th Aug 2024). One of the team members was physically assaulted by @mr_mayank. Despite the Kodigehalli police denying their claims due to lack of evidence, the couple then demanded Rs 500,000 from our company as ransom. When we refused, they escalated the situation to the Vidyaranyapura police station, where the team was held in custody for further investigation for 24 hrs (15-08-2024 3:00 PM TO 16-08-2024 06:00 PM) before the FIR,” the statement said.
The company attempted to mediate the situation and offered a reasonable settlement, which the couple initially considered but later rejected, demanding more money. After 72 hours, the couple filed an FIR, falsely claiming that items worth 14 lakhs were missing. However, Halef said that the claimed value in the FIR does not align with the circumstances.
A pen worth Rs 1.5 crore, a 70-year-old whiskey bottle valued at Rs 50 lakhs, documents worth Rs 10 crores, and more: List of things Congress troll reported missing to Halef International
“Over the course of 72 hours, the couple made increasingly outrageous claims, including a missing pen worth Rs 1.5 crores, a 70-year-old whiskey valued at 50 lakhs, and some court documents worth Rs 10 Crore and perfume worth Rs 2.5 Lakhs. However, on Twitter, they mentioned only 18 lakhs, revealing inconsistencies in their story,” the statement read, accusing the couple of extorting the company by manipulating their social media following and making baseless claims.
“Mr Mayank was under a misunderstanding with the word international in the company’s name thinking that it could be some multinational company and a good opportunity to raise some funds over the situation,” the company said.
The organisation said that when it denied Mr Mayank’s demand to pay him an amount of “7 digits”, the Congress troll reached out to one of their employees and spoke for over 22 minutes negotiating with him over what would be the company’s “last counter offer” and threatened to defame the company if his demands weren’t met.