No link with woman arrested for blackmailing people, says State Minister
Bureau,Odishabarta
Bhubaneswar: State Minister Jagannath Saraka on Sunday claimed that he has no link with a woman from Kalahandi, recently arrested by the police on the charge of blackmailing several people through honey trap. The ST and SC Development, Minorities and Backward Classes Welfare Minister’s reaction came after a picture of him along with the woman’s husband went viral.
“I do not know any such woman or her husband. I have no link with them,” Saraka told reporters here. Apart from Saraka, the picture of the woman and her husband along with different leaders including MLAs, a Minister, an MP and others personalities, have gone viral.
Former Union Minister and BJP MP Jual Oram, whose picture with the woman and her husband, went viral, said: “We are a public figure and many people take pictures with us. If anyone misutilises it, what can a politician do. These are all intended to defame me.”
Deputy Commissioner of Police, Bhubaneswar Prateek Singh on Sunday said the Kalahandi-born woman, who is married to a man from Balasore district, was accused of blackmailing a girl and was arrested under different sections of the IPC and IT Act on October 6.
She has been arrested based on the FIR filed at Khandagiri police station on October 2. Another FIR has also been made against the woman at Nayapally police station, the DCP said. In Khandagiri FIR, it is alleged that the woman invited a girl to her house and captured a few photographs of her intimate moments. Subsequently, the woman started blackmailing the girl.
It was also alleged that the woman later forced the girl to become close to an Odia film producer and warned her that her photographs would be made public, in case she refuses to act as instructed.
The DCP, however, refused to reveal name of the film producer for whom the woman was forcing the girl to be intimate. “The police investigating the case have seized a laptop, pen drives and other electronic gadgets like mobile phones from her house. Her bank passbook and a few other important documents were also seized. They have been sent to State Forensic Science Laboratory (SFSL) in Bhubaneswar,” the DCP said.
The DCP said police have already issued notice to the woman’s husband and if required, the police will bring the woman on remand.
Meanwhile, the issue has taken a political turn as senior Congress leader Suresh Routray on Sunday urged Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to ensure a thorough probe to identify all those involved in the racket and take stringent action.
BJP general secretary Lekhashree Samantsinghar demanded a high level probe into the incident. Another BJP leader Babu Singh alleged that as many as 25 MLAs, including ministers, were in touch with the woman and her husband, who have amassed properties worth crores of rupees in five years.
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