The notorious conman Sukesh Chandrasekhar's case has baffled the nation. Now, the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) has registered an FIR against Chandrasekhar for allegedly cheating wife of former promoter of Ranbaxy of Rs 4 crore, besides the Rs 200 crore fraud - all while the conman is behind bars. This time around, Chandrasekhar duped the wife of former promoter of Ranbaxy Malvinder Mohan Singh.
Chandrasekhar was arrested in 2017 and is lodged in Delhi's Rohini jail. Chandrasekhar was produced before a Delhi court and sent to 14-day police custody. The police are planning to book the conman under Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) after collecting details of his three earlier cases of fraud and impersonation.
The 27-yr-old Chandrasekhar, a native of Bengaluru, faces 15 FIRs. To lead a lavish lifestyle, he duped people in Bengaluru and Chennai of several crores.
The Rs 200 crore con from inside the jail
The Delhi Police's Economic Offence Wing (EOW) have registered a case on the complaint of Aditi S. Singh, wife of former Fortis Healthcare promoter Shivinder Singh alleging that she was cheated of Rs 200 crore for securing bail of her husband by a caller, who had introduced himself as the officer from the Union Ministry of Law.
EOW Additional Commissioner R.K. Singh said, "The Delhi Police Special Cell received a complaint from Aditi Singh on August 7 in which she mentioned that she received a call in June 2020, on her mobile phone and in which the caller introduced himself as a senior officer in Ministry of Law and proposed to help her in securing bail for her husband."
He said that in the complaint it was mentioned that the caller demanded money for getting the work done and conveyed the modalities regarding delivery of money to Aditi Singh.
The officer said, "Therefore, an enquiry was conducted in which it was established that Sukash Chandra Shekar aka Sukesh, who was lodged in Rohini Jail is the mastermind behind this offence."
"In order to unearth the entire conspiracy, a trap was laid to capture the person getting the delivery of money and thus accused Pradeep Ramdanee and Deepak Ramnani were arrested in this case on August 7 and 8 respectively," the Additional Commissioner said.
He said that during their interrogation, it was revealed that Shekar was running an extortion racket by using mobile phones from inside the jail.
"Shekar has spoofed the landline numbers of the ministry to make the victim believe that the phone was received from the ministry. Therefore, he was arrested and mobile phones used in commission of crime from him were recovered," the officer said.
The case was then transferred to the EOW to establish the money trail and to identify the sources and ultimate beneficiaries of money.
"During investigation, the connecting links between the main accused Shekar and his associates are being established," the officer said. He said that the questioning of accused Ramnani revealed that the accused was being facilitated by jail officials, who used to receive gratification in lieu of the facilities provided to accused Shekar.
He said that Ramnani revealed the identity of the jail officials as well as the vehicles used by them to collect the money.
"Based on the disclosure of Ramnani, Dharam Singh Meena, Assistant Jail Superintendent and Subhash Batra, Deputy Superintendent, were found involved in the racket and they have admitted to have helped and facilitated the accused Shekar in lieu of illegal gratification," the officer said.
"During the probe, it has also been found that Komal Poddar, Manager of RBL Bank at Connaught Place along with two of his associates namely, Avinash Kumar and Jitender Narula, were involved in the dubious transactions for circulation of funds and arrangement of cash," he said.
He said that Poddar, Kumar and Narula have also been arrested and further searches are being conducted at various places to get the leads and the proceeds of crime.
Conman led a lavish lifestyle
On August 23, the ED had "seized" a luxurious sea-facing bungalow in Chennai, Rs 82.5 lakh cash, and over a dozen luxury cars in connection with the money-laundering case against him.
Posing as politician's relative, it is alleged that he has duped more than 100 people promising to get their job done. He used buy expensive cars, included Rolls Royces, from the extorted money.
In Tamil Nadu, Chandrasekhar would usually travel in a car with beacon and claimed that he was the son of then Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi. He has also duped many people, posing as nephew of late Andhra Chief Minister Y.S.R. Reddy and Secretary of former Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa.
In case in Kerala Kochi, Sukesh had promised Emmanuel Silks to bring in Bollywood actor Katrina Kaif for a promotional programme. He had even taken Rs 20 lakh from them. However, he brought Telugu superstar Allu Arjun for the showroom's inauguration in Kottayam.
He has also allegedly played a middleman to help T.T.V. Dinkaran allegedly get the AIADMK's 'two leaves' symbol for Rs 60 crore in 2017.
(With agency inputs)
