Odia actress Mousumi Nayak arrested for blackmailing, denigrating image of author

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha police on Monday arrested Odia actress Mousumi Nayak on charges of blackmailing and denigrating the public image of a young lady writer.

The 39-year-old actress Mousumi was produced in a local court and later sent in judicial custody on the charge of extracting money from writer Banasmita Pati by lowering her public image by making baseless allegations against her.

According to sources, Mousumi had first lodged a complaint against Banasmita with the Infocity police in Bhubaneswar alleging that she had invested money in stock markets through her. However, the writer was repaying her money.

However, after a few days, the actress withdrew her complaint following the writer’s “assurance” to return the money, sources said.

Mousumi once again lodged a complaint against the writer with Chandaka police in September this year. In her complaint, the actress alleged that writer Banasmita was forcing her to get into escort service. She also alleged that the writer had threatened her when she sought her money back, sources added.

However, the writer moved the High Court of Orissa on the plea that the actress had hampered her social prestige by levelling false allegations against her. She also mentions that Mousumi’s allegation aimed at extracting money from her, sources said.

The Infocity police registered a case against the actress under Sections 385 (extortion), 294 (obscene acts), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 507 (Criminal intimidation by an anonymous communication) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) as per the court order.

The arrested actress has acted in several Odia, Hindi and Telugu movies.