BHUBANESHWAR: According to the latest reports in local media, there is a possibility that the Odisha Odisha police’s crime branch and the Economic Offence Wing (EOW) may question Bollywood actor Govinda in connection to the Rs 1000 crore online ponzi scam which was endorsed by him.

Odisha EOW’s DSP Sasmita Sahu, who has been part of the team has said that it was investigating the multi-crore ponzi scam involving Solar Techno Alliance (STA) token which has a presence in several countries and was illegally operating a pyramid-structured online ponzi scheme under the garb of crypto investment.

The Odisha EOW chief said that STA has collected deposits without any authorisation from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to the tune of Rs 1,000 crore from over 2 lakh gullible people across India and abroad who had been defrauded by the company. 

Govinda, who had reportedly endorsed the company’s operations in a few promotional videos had according to media reports also attended a mega event hosted by STA in Goa in July this year and Odisha EOW wants to question the actor regarding his association with the company.

The EOW officials added that if Govinda’s role in the case is only limited to being an endorser of the company as per a valid agreement, then he will be made a witness in the case. They added that the actor was neither a suspect nor an accused. 

The EOW had unearthed the pan-India cryptocurrency scam by STA which had in the stated reportedly collected Rs 30 crore from 10,000 people in Bhadrak, Keonjhar, Balasore, Mayurbhanj and Bhubaneswar.

The company’s country and Odisha heads, Gurtej Singh Sidhu and Nirod Das, respectively, were arrested on August 7, while Ratnakar Palai, an important and up-line member of STA having huge number of members below him (known as down-line members in the MLM/pyramid-based schemes/scams), was nabbed on August 16. 

It is said that a 32-year-old Hungarian national who headed the company by the name of David Gez, while EOW is said to have also learnt about the involvement of a second foreigner, a Dutch national, in the scam.

Immigration records show that Gez, entered India with a tourist visa two times in 2022-23 and stayed in India for about 25 days travelling to various places like Odisha, Goa, Punjab, Jharkhand and Delhi, a look out notice has been issued against him.

Govinda on the other hand has denied any role in the company. The veteran actor told The Time of India, "I have neither done any ad for anyone, nor endorsed, favoured or publicised anyone. The photographs mentioned [by the authorities] were taken at a function."