Bhubaneswar: ED cuffs Archana aide; SIT sniffs ‘black money’

BHUBANESWAR: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) here on Friday arrested Khageswar Patra, a close aide of the honey-trap gang’s main accused Archana Nag for his alleged links with her. This is the first arrest by the ED in the high-profile sextortion racket where names of several politicians of different parties have been doing the rounds.
Archana and her husband Jagabandhu Chand were arrested by the city police last month. They are still in judicial custody at the Jharpada special jail.
“We had detained Patra for interrogation on Thursday. During the investigation, we found strong evidence against him. Patra has received around Rs 40 lakh in phases from the accounts of Archana and Jagabandhu since 2017. Since he did not give any satisfactory reply about the suspicious and high-value transactions, we arrested him,” a senior ED official said.
The commissionerate police had spared Patra during their investigation, which is still in progress. “We did not have any evidence against him,” a police official said.
Meanwhile, the ED has got 10-day custodial remand of Patra for interrogation. Sources said Patra and Jagabandhu were into the business of sale of old cars in the city. Patra’s role came under the scanner following frequent transactions of huge amounts of money between him and the couple, who have been accused of extorting crores of rupees from many influential people.
In a related development, the Supreme Court-appointed special investigation team (SIT) on black money has reportedly turned its focus on the suspected presence of black money in the honey-trap racket. The SIT, which was formed by the Centre in 2014 to suggest anti-black money measures to the government, has reportedly asked the commissionerate police and ED to share details of the case background ahead of its meeting to be held in Delhi in the next few days. Unlike routine sex rackets, the honey-trap case dropped a bombshell in the state as the opposition BJP and Congress have been accusing the ruling BJD of patronising the illicit business of Archana.