Odisha `sextortion` case: ED attaches Rs 3.4 crore luxurious house of Archana Nag under anti-money laundering law

The ED said the state police complaint states that the lady blackmailer Archana Nag, and her husband (Chand) 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.

New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate has attached a house worth Rs 3.64 crore of Archana Nag, prime accused in an alleged sextortion case of Odisha, under the anti-money laundering law, the federal agency said on Wednesday. ''A luxurious house of the prime accused Archana Nag worth Rs 3.64 crore has been attached in connection with ongoing money laundering investigation into the high-profile sextortion racket being run in and around the city of Bhubaneswar,'' the agency said in a statement.

The ED said the state police complaint states that the lady blackmailer namely Archana Nag, and her husband (Chand) 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 secretly making their videos and threatening and blackmailing them for lodging false police cases against them and making viral of their videos in social media.

Earlier, the ED seized two high-end vehicles worth Rs 56.5 lakhs under section 17 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002. ED had recorded an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) for taking up an investigation under the provisions of the PMLA against Archana Nag, her husband Jagabandhu Chand, Shradhanjali Behera, and Khageswar Patra on the basis of two separate FIRs registered by Bhubaneshwar Police.

The central agency is probing the assets and cash amassed by alleged blackmailer Archana Nag, her husband Jagabandhu Chand and their associates, over a few years. The ED has traced Rs 2.5 crore deposits in the bank accounts of Archana and Jagabandhu between 2017 and 2022 and investigating the matter.

Archana Nag belongs to Kalahandi and she is accused of amassing over Rs 30 crore along with her husband between 2018 and 2022 by blackmailing and threatening some politicians and affluent people.

Bhubaneshwar Police arrested Archana, her husband and her Associate Khageswar on the charges of blackmailing and are now lodged in Bhubaneshwar jail. Further investigation, in this case, is under progress.