Bhubaneswar, Nov 28 (PTI) The opposition BJP and the Congress on Monday staged a walkout in the Assembly, questioning Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik's "silence" over a multi-crore-rupee extortion case, which, they claimed, "involves several leaders of the ruling BJD".

Countering the allegation, minister of state for home TK Behera told the House that the BJD government never protected criminals and the charges made by opposition members are baseless.

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The issue was debated in the Assembly after the BJP moved an adjournment motion for the same, which was accepted by Speaker B K Arukha

Saffron party members alleged that the state government was shielding the culprits of the case, involving 26-year-old Archana Nag, who has been arrested, along with her husband, on charges of blackmailing rich and influential people by threatening to make public photos and videos of their intimate moments.

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Opposition Chief Whip Mohan Majhi of the BJP and Congress Legislature Party leader Narasingha Mishra, who had earlier demanded Patnaik's resignation over the issue, claimed that attempts were being made to "hush up the matter as several BJD leaders, including ministers, are involved in it".

Behera, rebuffing the allegations, said, two complaints have been registered, and a probe is underway.

"Action will be taken against anyone found involved in the case, no matter how powerful he or she is," the minister asserted.

As the debate over the extortion case escalated in the House, the MLAs of the opposition BJP and the Congress staged a walkout. Majhi, outside the House, stated that the CM's silence on the issue has created "confusion".

Patnaik, though in charge of the home department, was yet to give any reaction, "despite the fact that pictures of BJD leaders have surfaced in the blackmailer's email account", he pointed out.

Mishra sought to know why the police have not interrogated any bigwig involved in the case thus far.

He demanded Patnaik's resignation "on moral grounds as several of his party's leaders, including MLAs, were found to have links with the blackmailer".

According to the Enforcement Directorate, which is probing the money trail in the case, Nag and her husband amassed a properties worth Rs 30 crore during a span of four years from 2018 by allegedly blackmailing influential people over their pictures and videos.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)