Bhubaneswar: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has detained Shradhanjali Behera, a co-accused in the high-profile honey-trap case involving Archana Nag and some influential people of Odisha.
According to sources, the agency has traced money running into several lakhs deposited by Archana into the account of her one-time associate Shradhanjali, between 2017 and 2022.
She is accused of having partnered in the sextortion racket before falling out with Archana. In her complaint lodged at Khandagiti police station, Shradhanjali claimed that she was trapped and forced into the racket by Archana. She further alleged that Archana forced her to develop intimacy with filmmaker Akshay Parija to blackmail him and extort money from him later.
She, however, had been evading ED summons and remained incommunicado, before deposing on Wednesday. “Considering her financial background, her involvement in huge financial transactions raise suspicion,” an ED official said.
Shradhanjali was grilled for over 12 hours and confronted about the deposits she received. The agency has also sought details of bank accounts. If reports are to be believed she also spelt names of some influential people from whom Archana had extorted money and shared the modus operandi.
The ED is likely to summon those people named by her and also bring mastermind Archana on remand for face-to-face grilling with Shradhanjali, sources added.
