Soumayashree Mishra 
Archana Nag, a 27-year-old woman from Bhubaneswar, has been the centrepiece of Odisha mainstream press for the last five days, with dramatic news being disclosed hour by hour.
Around 20 leaders from the ruling BJD and the opposition BJP, as well as high officials, film producers, and real-estate tycoons, were purportedly honey-trapped by the woman who allegedly hired 20 high-profile call girls to please rich and powerful clients.
She used this to meet powerful figures and introduce herself as a lawyer and frontline leader of a political party. She used to seduce them after a social media friendship, and those who were seduced are trapped.
She had similarly trapped a political leader in 2021 and insisted Rs 50 lakh from him. Because he did not give her the money, she filed a rape complaint against him with the Mahila police.
She blackmailed a film producer in May, demanding and receiving Rs 20 lakh from him. He later filed a complaint with Khandagiri police in this regard. A well-known film producer recently filed a complaint with the Nayapalli police, alleging that the woman demanded Rs 3 crore from him. Police arrested her after receiving a complaint.
After a long pause on the’sextortion’ case that erupted a few days ago, the BJP came out swinging on Tuesday, demanding a CBI investigation into Archana Nag’s blackmailing ring. State BJP Mahila Morcha president Smruti Pattnaik told a media conference here that the silence of the police investigating the case has given the impression that the agency is ‘trying to cover more than to reveal,’ accusing the BJD government of attempting to shield some influential persons, including MLAs and Ministers of the ruling party.
Pattnaik claimed Archana and her husband Jagabandhu Chand are active members of the BJD and that the couple was running an extortion racket with the help of high-profile politicians from the ruling party. This is clear from the police’s continued silence while investigating the case.
Daring the police to reveal the names of all those with connections to the woman, the Mahila Morcha president demanded to know why Nag has yet to be interrogated despite her arrest last week. She claimed that the police are attempting to destroy evidence collected from Archana’s laptop, mobile phone, and bank lockers in order to protect her because she has direct links with many senior members of the ruling BJD.
