Odisha Honeytrap Racket: Forensic Analysis Report Of Archana’s Electronic Gadgets Handed Over

Bhubaneswar: In a significant development in Archana Nag’s honey trap racket case in Odisha, the State Forensic Science Laboratory (SFSL) has handed over the analysis report of the electronic equipment seized from the lady extortionist.

The Commissionerate Police has sent several electronic devices seized during investigation into Archana’s sex and extortion racket to the SFSL for forensic analysis.

The information contained in the forensic report of the electronic devices is likely to shed light on alleged links of Archana with high-profile people, including influential politicians and businessmen.

According to reports, the SFSL has completed the analysis of four mobile phones, two laptops, tab and pen drive sent by the police. The SFSL also handed over report on hard disk data.

While one copy of the report was submitted to the court, another was handed over at the Khandagiri police station in Bhubaneswar. The SFSL also handed over the data on the hard drive.

Sources say the chats and data removed from the mobile phones and laptops were successfully traced by the SFSL experts and handed over to the court and police.

The forensic report of the Archana’s electronic gadgets will be of great help to the Enforcement Directorate (ED), which is investigating the financial transactions in the sextortion racket.

The ED has already received two diaries of Archana from the Khandagiri Police after the court’s approval, besides collecting some other devices used by the lady blackmailer.

It may be noted that Archana was sent to jail on Monday as the court of Additional District Judge (ADJ) III in Bhubaneswar rejected the petition of ED for her remand for two more days.

After Archana’s second remand ended on Sunday, the ED moved the court for her remand for two more days on the ground that she did not cooperate during the investigation nor gave satisfactory answers during the interrogation.

The agency took Archana into 6-day custody for the second time after it reportedly failed to obtain any credible information about her suspicious money transactions in the first phase of interrogation.

While Archana was arrested by the police on October 6, her husband Jagabandhu Chand was arrested on October 21.

Archana and Jagabandhu allegedly collected more than Rs 30 crore between 2018 and 2022 by blackmailing and threatening some politicians and rich people. The agency has already traced deposits of Rs 2.5 crore in the bank accounts of the couple between 2017 and 2022.