Bhubaneswar: The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) will question Bollywood actor Govinda in connection with the Rs 1000 crore Solar Techno Alliance pan-India online Ponzi scam probe.
EOW Dy. SP Sasmita Sahoo said that since Govinda had attended the launching event of Solar Techno Alliance’s (STA’s) blockchain technology at Goa we plan to either summon him to appear before EOW or maybe EOW team will visit Mumbai to ascertain to what extent his role and why he had gone there.
Sahoo added that further investigation is underway.
The EOW Dy SP explained that while STA was launched in 2021, Govinda had been to Goa in 2023 to launch its blockchain technology.
She said that new investors could have been influenced by the fact that it is being launched by Govinda, a Bollywood celebrity/star.
It could have been a motivating factor for the investors to get influenced and believe that it was something genuine, she added.
Sahoo opined that maybe STA’s country head Gurtej Singh Sidhu could have knowingly invited the Bollywood star so that it would further strengthen people’s faith that it is not a Ponzi scheme but is crypto currency investment.
She informed that EOW has already started financial investigation to ascertain the circulation path of the Rs 1000 crore involved in the scam.
Whether it was being circulated inside the country or outside the country, she added.
The EOW Dy SP informed that several witnesses have been examined by the EOW in Odisha and the agency is getting several emails from persons outside the state who have been also duped and have sought help.
The company collected around Rs 30 crore from 10,000 people in Bhadrak, Keonjhar, Balasore, Mayurbhanj and Bhubaneswar.
As per reports, under the scam, STA took lakhs in deposits from investors in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan, Haryana, Delhi, Jharkhand and other states.
The EOW arrested the STA’s country and Odisha heads Gurtej Singh Sidhu and Nirod Das, respectively, on August 7.
Bhubaneswar-based investment adviser Ratnakar Palai was arrested on August 16 for his link with Sidhu. Lookout circulars were issued against the company chief David Gez, a Hungarian national.
