After the five-hour-long interrogation of actress Jacqueline Fernandez by the Enforcement Directorate on Monday, the name of notorious conman, Sukesh Chandrashekhar, has once again come to the fore. The actress reportedly fell prey to the Rs 200-crore extortion racket, which Chandrashekhar had been running from a jail in Delhi.
The probe revealed that Chandrashekhar, a native of Bengaluru, was in touch with several Bollywood celebrities while he was in Rohini Jail in Delhi. He had made inroads into Bollywood some time ago by showing off his wealth.
The 32-year-old used to send flowers and chocolates to Fernandez, and used spoofing technology, where he would hide his real identity, for communication.
After the ED tracked down his calls by identifying the IP address, it was found out that the two numbers Chandrashekhar was using from the jail were not in his name. It took almost two-and-a-half months for the ED to break the nexus. ED sources revealed an actress visited him in the jail a few years ago.
This high-profile conman was first jailed when he was 17 years old. Aimed at leading a lavish lifestyle, he began forging people in Bengaluru and then moved to Chennai and other metro cities.
Chandrashekhar was arrested by the Delhi Police in April, 2017 from a hotel for trying to bribe an election commissioner. It was alleged that he took money from AIADMK leader TTV Dhinakaran to bribe EC officials in connection with a dispute over the AIADMK “two leaves” poll symbol. Chandrasekhar had allegedly struck a deal for Rs 50 crore to help the AIADMK (Amma) faction keep the “two leaves” symbol. An amount of Rs 1.3 crore was allegedly seized from his possession at the time of his arrest.
Recently, the special cell of Delhi Police caught Chandrashekhar after Aditi Singh, the wife of former Fortis promoter Shivinder Mohan Singh, filed a complaint of being cheated by the conman.
Economic Offence Wing’s Additional Commissioner RK Singh said the special Cell of Delhi Police received a complaint from Aditi Singh on August 7 in which she mentioned she had received a call in June 2020. The caller introduced himself as a senior officer in the ministry of law and proposed to help her in securing bail for her husband Shivinder.
He said 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 Chandrasekhar aka Sukesh is the mastermind behind this offence.”
The ED had on Monday seized a luxurious sea-facing benami property owned by Chandrashekhar at posh East Coast Road (ECR) in Chennai, Rs 82 lakh cash and 16 cars in connection with the money laundering case against him.
Sources in the ED revealed that many of the Bollywood celebrities who were in touch with Chandrashekhar could be called for questioning.
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