Bhubaneswar: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday raided the residence of Archana Nag, the key accused in the high-profile honeytrap case that rocked Odisha in 2022, at Satya Vihar in Bhubaneswar in connection with alleged financial irregularities.
According to sources, the raid was conducted by a six-member team of the agency as Nag had failed to comply with it earlier 10-day notice, asking her vacate the three-storey palatial house under Mancheswar police limits worth Rs 3.40 crore attached under Section 8(4) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), in 2023.
Her lawyer alleged that it was a planned raid to harass Nag, whose father had been keeping very unwell. “We had countered the notice in the court. We are yet to get a hearing on it. Fearing that we might win the case, the agency has begun a raid when my client is away in Balasore,” he added.
He further stated that Nag had lodged a complaint against an ED officer at Mahila police station, which is yet to register a case on the basis of it.
It is worth mentioning here that Nag and her husband Jagabandhu Chand were arrested in October 2022, after a woman lodged a complaint with Khandagiri police station accusing them of forcing her into prostitution to blackmail bigwigs.
Later, the ED registered a money laundering case against them and began investigating their financial transactions. Archana and her husband had allegedly accumulated assets worth over Rs 30 crore, which also included several branded cars including Audi, Ford Endeavour, expensive two-wheelers, a farmhouse and a horse, in just four years by extorting money from influential persons through blackmail and honeytrap.
The agency had also traced Rs 2.5 crore deposited in their accounts between 2017 and 2022.
Sources further stated that the ED had earlier attached the couple’s assets, including two luxurious cars and some documents of their property, to the tune of Rs 4 crore.
