Cops plan lie-detector test for Archana, hubby

Bhubaneswar: Archana Nag and her husband Jagabandhu Chand, accused of extorting crores of rupees from many influential people by honey-trapping them, are likely to undergo a lie-detector test.
Archana and Jagabandhu, who were arrested on October 6 and 21, respectively, are in judicial custody at Jharpada special jail here.
Police are planning to seek a court’s permission to conduct the polygraph test on the couple to elicit more information about their network. The police have so far not sought their custodial remand.
“The polygraph test will help us know how they accumulated huge assets in the last three or four years, especially during the lockdown in 2020 and 2021. Besides, we want to know the persons, who were blackmailed for extortion and whereabouts of the couple’s ill-gotten wealth,” a senior police officer said.
DCP Prateek Singh said the police are verifying the bank statements of Archana and her husband. “We have received the account statements of the couple from some banks. Their transactions are being examined,” Singh said.
The police have not disclosed about a diary that was seized from Jagabandhu. Talks are doing the rounds that the diary contained names of people, who were honey-trapped. Besides, names of some people, who supported the couple’s illegal and immoral acts and received undue benefits, have reportedly been mentioned in the diary.
On Sunday, the jail authorities allowed Archana to meet her husband in the presence of the prison staff. Since Jagabandhu recently underwent a neck surgery and was unwell, she wanted to meet him and inquire about his health. “We allowed them to meet for about 5 minutes. They were warned not to discuss their case,” a jail officer said.
Meanwhile, the BJP is planning to lay a siege to Naveen Niwas, chief minister Naveen Patnaik’s residence, next week in protest against alleged police inaction in the honey-trap case.
BJP leaders and supporters are on an indefinite dharna outside the office of the police commissioner since Saturday, demanding action against the culprits who backed the couple’s sextortion racket. The BJP has been accusing the BJD of providing political patronage to Archana, which the ruling party has denied.