ED attaches luxurious house of sextortion accused Archana Nag

Bhubaneswar: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached a luxurious house worth Rs 3.64 crore belonging to Archana Nag, the prime accused in the ongoing money laundering probe into the high-profile sextortion racket case in Odisha.

Earlier, the ED had seized two high-end vehicles worth Rs 56.5 lakh, as per the provisions under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002.

The central agency had registered an enforcement case information report (ECIR) for taking up investigation under the provisions of PMLA against Archana Nag, her husband Jagabandhu Chand, associates Shradhanjali Behera and Khageswar Patra on the basis of two separate FIRs filed by Bhubaneswar police, the ED said in a statement on Wednesday.

As per the FIRs, Archana, her husband Jagabandhu, with the assistance of Shradhanjali Behera and Khageswar Patra, generated properties worth crores of rupees through extortion by way of ‘honey-trapping’ high profile and rich people and then secretly making their videos. They then blackmailed the victims by threatening to make the videos viral.

The case came to limelight when a complaint was filed against renowned Odia film producer Parija, accusing him of sexually exploiting a woman. Following this complaint, some purportedly obscene pictures of Parija with the woman went viral on social media.

Later, Parija too lodged another complaint alleging that Archana and Shradhanjali made extortion demand of Rs 3 crore from him.

More than 20 leaders from the ruling BJD and opposition BJP, besides prominent businessmen, film producers and real-estate tycoons, were reportedly honey-trapped by Archana, who had allegedly hired high-profile call girls to please the wealthy men.

Archana, her husband Jagabandhu and their business partner Khageswar Patra have been arrested in this case.

(IANS)