Odisha honey-trap case: ED grills Archana’s driver, aide

Bhubaneswar:  The Enforcement Directorate (ED), which is probing the money laundering angle in the high-profile honey-trap case in Odisha, questioned prime accused Archana Nag’s associate Shradhanjali Behera and driver Chandan on Friday.

Shradhanjali appeared before the ED for the second time, while Chandan was questioned by the central agency for the first time. Shradhanjali had earlier appeared before the ED on November 23.

Coming out of the ED office here, Shradhanjali said that she was asked to appear before the ED again as the interrogation was not completed on November 23. She also refuted allegations of her involvement in the ‘sextortion’ case.

As per sources, the central agency has collected vital information about the movement of Archana from her driver.

Earlier, the ED had questioned two businessmen, Amiyakant Das and Gangadhar Samal, Odia film producer Akshaya Parija and Archana’s associate Khageswar Patra in connection with the case.

The Enforcement Directorate is now planning to take Archana and her husband Jagabandhu on remand for further investigation.

The case came to light after a girl filed complaint against Akshaya Parija, accusing him of sexually exploiting her. Following the lodging of the complaint, some purported pictures of Parija with a girl went viral on social media.

A day later, the film producer lodged a complaint before Nayapalli police station alleging that Archana and another woman, Shradhanjali Behera, had made extortion demands of Rs 3 crore from him.

–IANS