Sukesh Chandrashekhar was allegedly friends with some movie actors. (File)
Against the high-profile "scamster" Sukesh Chandrashekhar, who allegedly extorted money by impersonating probe officers and promising clearances to accused in criminal cases, the CBI today filed a chargesheet. It named an associate of his — Sanjay Jain, alias Sanjay Chicken, of Delhi — in the fraud case filed in 2019. Both are in jail.
The central agency had registered the case in 2020 after orders from the Supreme Court. The original FIR at was registered the previous year by police in Tiruvallur, Chennai.
Investigators claim that after Income Tax Department raided an organisation managing a temple in Andhra Pradesh's Tirupati in October 2019, Sukesh Chandrashekhar contacted one of its members and claimed to be Law Secretary, Government of India. He allegedly pressured them to pay Rs 7.5 crore to “settle the matter”.
His calls were routed in such a way – using some digital devices – that the receivers would see landline numbers of senior government functionaries. So, if they cross-checked, they would believe the officers indeed were calling. The calls actually originated from outside India, said the probe agency.
He used these numbers while collecting Rs 2 crore in extortion money in Mumbai.
He was on custody parole at the time in another case for having made such phone calls to various persons facing criminal cases by different agencies.
It was further alleged that he extorted huge sums as bribes from them “in the guise of settling their cases”. “He misappropriated the money so collected for his personal use,” said the CBI.
The other accused, Sanjay Jain, is a resident of Punjabi Bagh, Delhi, and was in regular contact Sukesh Chandrashekhar, whose legal matters he used to handle by arranging lawyers and dealing his parole matter, among other help.
Mr Chandrashekar is alleged to have used the money for expensive gifts to friends, such as actors Jacqueline Fernandez and Nora Fatehi, both of whom have been questioned by probe officers and have denied any knowledge of his crimes.