Bhubaneswar, Aug 7 : India head of STA Crypto token” Gurtej Sigh Sidhu was arrested by the Economic Offence wing of Odisha Crime Branch from Rajsthan in a Ponzi scam involving more than Rs.1000 crore. EOW sources here on Monday said Sidhu a native of Faridkot, Punjab was arrested from Sri-Ganganagar, Rajasthan. He was produced before a local court in Sri-Ganganagar which granted a 7 days transit remand. The EOW brought him to Odisha and he will be produced before OPID Court, Cuttack. Sidhu 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. The EOW also arrested one Nirod Das who is the Odisha head of STA in connection with the scam. After getting intelligence from various sources that a crypto currency based Ponzi scheme/scam is being run in Odisha an enquiry was conducted. During enquiry it was found that STA through some up- line members are very active in several Odisha 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,Odisha, Maharashtra, and Assam. STA (Solar Techno Alliance) was launched in September 2021. In its website & 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 the shortest amount of time using block chain technology”. But during investigation it was noticed that STA is not authorized by RBI or any other authorities to collect deposits.It runs a huge Ponzi (MLM/ Pyramid) scheme in the garb of Crypto Token. STA is headed by one David Gez, a young Hungarian (Europe) national who has visited India multiple times. Gurtej Singh Sidhu is said to have reached the top level of STA’s Pyramid structure (Kohinnor leadership in STA language) and he heads/runs the scheme/ scam in India He also claims to be a Crypto currency expert, MLM Guru, Life coach and a motivational speaker. Both David Gej and Gurtej Sidhu have travelled to many places in India including Odisha and have attended various STA Programs. STA conducts several publicity programs at various places to spread its membership. They use fancy hotels, motivational speakers, music, lunch/dinner etc. in such meetings to brainwash future members. They also run several YouTube channels for publicity and tutoring the new members. The members are promised that they will earn $20 to $3000 per day if they join this scheme and add more members under them. EOW sources claimed that transactions (credit & debit) of more than Rs 30 crore was noticed in the bank account of Nirod Das, the Odisha head of STA. Also there is a huge cash deposit in his accounts which indicates that lots of black money is routed/ parked in this scam. All the accounts have been frozen ,the EOW said, adding that total money involved (Pan India) in STA is estimated to be more than Rs 1000 Crores. The EOW has advised the people not to invest their hard earned money in such MLM/Ponzi schemes.It has also issued an advisory to Film stars/ celebrities to check the credentials of the party/company/organization before endorsing/ promoting such scheme/ program.
