Archana Nag honeytrap and blackmail case: ED may probe financial transactions

Bhubaneswar: In a significant development in the sensational honeytrap and blackmail case involving prime accused Archana Nag and her husband Jagabandhu Chand, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) may probe into the alleged illegal financial transactions by the couple.

According to reports, the ED has sought the FIR copy of the case from the Twin City Commissionerate Police.

The agency is likely to trace the source of the money received by the husband-wife duo.

While Archana is accused of extorting lakhs of rupees from politicians, businessmen and influential persons by blackmailing them with videos of intimate moments between her and them, Jagabandhu had alleged involvement in the offence.

Both have been arrested and lodged in Jharpada Special Jail here.

The Bharatiya Vikash Parishad had moved the Orissa High Court seeking a probe by the ED into the exponential rise in assets owned by Archana Nag and her husband.

Filing a Public Interest litigation (PIL), the Bharatiya Vikash Parishad has made Central Government, ED, Odisha Chief Secretary, Home Department, Odisha DGP, Khandagiri police station IIC and Nayapalli police station IIC parties in the case. It has also sought confiscation of her properties.

The case has sent shockwaves across the state with speculations being rife about the involvement of several senior politicians.

During probe, she was found in possession of palatial house in Bhubaneswar, luxurious cars and valuables worth crores.

Archana and her husband Jagabandhu Chand amassed assets worth around Rs 30 crore within a span of four years from 2018 to 2022, a police official said.