EOW Odisha to take accused on 3 day remand relating to biggest Crypto-Ponzi scam of India

Bhubaneswar: The EOW Odisha to take two accused including Gurtej Sigh Sidhu on three day remand relating to the biggest Crypto-Ponzi scam of India.

The EOW has brought the accused to their headquarters from Choudwar Circle Jail in Cuttack and is questioning them. The EOW will also probe the celebrity angle in the scam, said reliable reports.

They will be questioned as to how they had managed to swindle so many people off crores of rupees.

EOW arrested the India head of one “STA Crypto token” identified as Gurtej Sigh Sidhu, 40 from Sri-Ganganagar, Rajasthan. He is a native of Faridkot, Punjab.

He was produced before local court in Sri-Ganganagar. The court granted 7 days transit remand. He was brought to Odisha and will be produced before OPID Court, Cuttack. He was frequently changing his location in places like Goa, Lonavala, Mumbai, Delhi, Faridkot, Bhatinda, Hanumangadh and Sri Ganganagar.

A team of EOW led by DSP Sasmita sahoo was tracking his movement. EOW also arrested one Nirod Das of Bhadrak who is the Odisha head of STA.

This refers to EOW case no 22/2023 U/S 420/467/468/471/120-B IPC, 4/5/6 of PCMS Act. After getting intelligence from various sources that a crypto currency based Ponzi scheme/scam is being run in Odisha especially in Bhadrak, Balasore, Bhubaneswar, Mayurbhanj, Jajpur, kendrapada and Keonjhar districts, an enquiry was conducted.

During enquiry it was found that STA through some upline members are very active in these districts and they have been using various propaganda tools to persuade people to join in this scheme and earn huge money in a very short time.

It was found that members have started using the STA token like a legal tender in their day to day business. It is estimated that more than 10,000 people from Odisha have already been members of this scheme. This scheme/scam has more than 2 lakh members (Pan India) mainly in the states like Punjab, Rajasthan, Bihar, Jharkhand, Haryana, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha and Assam.

STA (Solar Techno Alliance) was launched in September 2021. In its website and social media accounts it claims to be a “one stop Solar Technologies service that enables users to order anything they like from the nearest farmers in shortest amount of time using block chain technology”.