Archana arrested under Money-Laundering Act: ED tells court
Archana arrested under Money-Laundering Act: ED tells court
admin
Bhubaneswar: Archana Nag, accused of blackmailing Odisha's powerful people while running a sex racket, was detained by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday under Section 19 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act after her 7-day detention expired.
The agency is investigating the proceeds of the crime and had previously arrested one of her colleagues, Khageswar Patra, in this regard.
Archana was arrested on October 6 by Khandagiri Police and had been detained at Jharpada Special Jail before being taken on remand by the ED for questioning in the case.
According to reports, the agency was unable to obtain any meaningful information from her because she remained silent for the entire seven days. This despite Archana's statements to the media that she would fully cooperate with the ED and provide "earth-shattering leads to the investigators."
In addition to Archana, her husband Jagabandhu Chand was summoned to the SDJM court in Bhubaneswar in connection with the sextortion racket. The ED has now requested a 15-day remand for Jagabandhu and additional seven days in jail for Archana in order to obtain information about financial transactions in the scam. They will most likely be grilled together.
The couple is suspected of amassing over Rs 30 crore by exploiting sexually explicit movies to blackmail high-profile people such as politicians, businessmen, and filmmakers. The ED has so far traced Rs 2.5 crore deposited in Archana and Jagabandhu's accounts between 2017 and 2022.
Meanwhile, Jgabandhu has applied to the Orissa High Court for bail in the sex and extortion case involving Archana's servant Shradhanjali Behera. On December 1, the ADJ court-2 in Bhubaneswar rejected his bail application.
