Bhubaneswar: The Enforcement Directorate has attached a luxurious house belonging to Archana Nag, the prime accused in the blackmailing case, here, an official said Thursday.
The house is worth Rs 3.64 crore, the official said.
The ED is probing the probable money laundering angle in the high-profile sextortion racket allegedly run by Nag and her husband Jagabandhu Chand in and around Bhubaneswar.
It had earlier seized two vehicles worth Rs 56.5 lakh under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, the agency said in a press release.
The probe body had recorded an Enforcement Case Information Report for taking up the investigation under provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 against the couple, their friend-turned-foe Shradhanjali Behera and associate Khageswar Patra on the basis of two separate FIRs registered by Bhubaneshwar Police, it said.
The contents of the FIRs revealed that the four have created properties worth crores of rupees through extortion by honey-trapping high-profile and rich people and secretly making their videos. They later used the videos for threatening and blackmailing their victims, lodging false police cases against them, and making viral their videos in social media.
The ED in the course of its investigation into the case has so far grilled more than 15 people, including Nag and her husband. Film producers, builders, charter accountants and other influential persons were among those who faced its interrogation, it added.
Pictures of politicians of different parties, including ministers with Nag and her husband have gone viral in the past.
The couple is presently languishing in a special jail in Bhubaneswar after their bail petitions were rejected by different courts.
According to an estimate made by the local police, the couple has amassed properties of about Rs 30 crore during a span of only four years between 2018 and 2022.
PTI