Odisha EOW arrests ‘investment guru’ in Rs 1,000 crore crypto scam | Bhubaneswar News
EOW identified the accused as Ratnakar Palai (45), who completed his MTech in Information Technology (IT) from Karnataka University.
Palai, who stayed in the posh Jayadev Vihar locality in Bhubaneswar, is a close aide of Gurtej Singh Sidhu and Nirod Das, who were arrested on August 7.
Palai used to run a YouTube channel where he projected himself as an investment guru and promoted the illegal business operations of STA Token.
Palai deactivated his YouTube channel and other social media handles following the recent arrest of Sidhu and Das.
He lured a large number of investors from Odisha and Jharkhand to invest in STA Token, EOW inspector general JN Pankaj said.
Police said Palai is an important and up-line member of STA Token with a huge number of members below him (known as down-line members in the multi-level marketing or pyramid-based schemes).
The company lured people on social media to invest in cryptocurrency and encouraged them to enrol more investors under them.
To build the networks, the company offered an incentive to members, saying the scale of interest and bonus for members would depend on the number of investors they bring.
“Palai is very close to Sidhu and Das. He claims to be an international speaker, entrepreneur and investment guru. He was also the propaganda head and social media influencer of STA Token in Odisha,” Pankaj said.
Meanwhile, Sidhu and Das were sent back to judicial custody on Wednesday following completion of their five-day remand period in the EOW custody.
Sidhu and Das are country and state heads of the company.
A few days ago, the EOW found the complicity of a Dutch national in the scam.
Earlier, alleged involvement of Hungarian national David Gez was ascertained.
Efforts are on to issue a look-out notice against Gez, EOW sources said.