Odisha ‘sextortion’ case: ED seizes SUV of prime accused

PTI, Nov 21, 2022, 5:10 PM IST

The Enforcement Directorate has seized a sports utility vehicle (SUV) belonging to the prime accused in the money laundering case linked to a recent alleged sextortion case in Odisha.

”The vehicle, a Ford Endeavour, was found abandoned without a number plate. The seized vehicle is valued around Rs 40 lakh,” the federal probe agency said in a statement.

It said the vehicle belongs to Archana Nag who is the main accused in the ”high-profile sextortion racket run in and around the city of Bhubaneswar.” The Enforcement Directorate had earlier said it seized ”incriminating” documents, digital evidence and mobile phones after it recently undertook searches in this money laundering probe. The action was undertaken against Nag, her husband Jagabandhu Chand, his alleged aide Khageshwar Patra and Sharadhanjali Behera, an associate of Nag, on November 10.

The money laundering investigation stems from two Odisha Police FIRs filed against the accused. Archana Nag and Jagabandhu Chand were arrested by the police last month and they are currently lodged in jail under judicial custody.

The ED arrested Khageshwar Patra recently.

”Patra, an active and close associate of Archana Nag, was involved in acquiring and generating properties worth crores of rupees through extortion by way of honey-trapping high-profile and rich people and secretly making inappropriate videos and threatening and blackmailing them for lodging false police cases against them,” the probe agency had said. These inappropriate videos were also published over social media, it had said.