During his stay in Rohini Jail, Sukesh Chandrashekhar used two iPhones. (File)
In its charge sheet, the Delhi Police has stated that conman Sukesh Chandrashekhar confessed that he is fond of high-end cars, costly watches, latest electronic gadgets and all kinds of luxuries and comfort in life and he decided to earn quick money.
As per the charge sheet, when Sukesh Chandrashekhar was in Tihar Jail, he controlled the jail staff by offering them hefty amounts of money.
It further stated that in the jail he had the opportunity to meet high profile prisoners such as Chandra brothers, Karti Chidambaram, Moin Qureshi, Ratul Puri and others.
He met Sanjay Chandra and Ajay Chandra of Unitech and Shivender Singh, who were all in judicial custody. Mr Chandrashekhar was regularly meeting the Chandra brothers of Unitech and he came in contact with Deepak Ramnani, a person close to the Chandra brothers.
Deepak Ramnani was handling the funds of the Chandra brothers. They introduced Deepak Ramnani to him and told him that Mr Ramnani was a reliable person for management of funds, according to the charge sheet filed by the Economic Offence Wing (EOW) of Delhi Police.
The charge sheet also stated that Mr Chandrashekhar met Leena Maria Paul (presently his wife) in 2010 through a common social circle and started dating her and he used to represent himself as the son of a big politician. He desperately needed more money to maintain his lifestyle to match the desires and requirements of Ms Paul. To sustain the expenses of a lavish life in jail and to help Ms Paul in establishing salon business all over the country, Mr Chandrashekhar was in dire need of huge sums of money, said the charge sheet.
During his stay in Rohini Jail, Mr Chandrashekhar used two mobile phones -- iPhone11 and iPhone 12 -- and used to contact Aditi Singh, Deepak Ramnani and others. On June 15, 2020, he made a call to Aditi Singh, from a virtual number by spoofing as landline and by posing as the Law Secretary of India. She came to understand that he could help them in legal matters as well as cause harm If she did not follow his instructions. He used to end his conversations saying "Jail Hind" to make her believe he was in government service, according to the charge sheet.
He had paid around Rs 25-30 crore to jail officers and staff in a year, stated the charge sheet, adding that he kept the CCTV cameras installed in his cell covered all the time with curtains and bottles and had no issue in using cellphones.
Mr Chandrashekhar had always been well versed with technicalities and methods to use virtual numbers and knew how to evade phone tracking. He procured a spoofing app and spoofed the landline number of Union Law Secretary and initially called Aditi Singh from the spoofed number. He also used the 'Hushed' app for creating a virtual WhatsApp number and created a telegram number. He had procured an Airtel SIM with the help of a jail official and used this number for facilitation, the charge sheet said.
The Patiala House Court recently took cognizance of the charge sheet against 14 accused including Sukesh Chandrashekhar, his wife Leena Maria Paul, and others in the alleged Rs 200 crore cheating case.
Additional Sessions Judge Praveen Singh had said, "I have perused the charge sheet. From perusal of the charge sheet, I find that prime facie commission of offence under section 170/ 384/ 386/ 388/ 419/ 420/ 406/ 409/186/353/468/471/506(2)/120 B IPC and section 66 D of IT Act as well as section 3 and 4 MCOC Act is taken."
The Delhi court noted that the role of the accused charge-sheeted was ascertained in the activities of organized crime and commission of organized crime and after completion of investigation sanction of prosecution under section 23 MCOC Act was obtained on November 1.
Sukesh Chandrashekar and Leena Paul were represented by their advocates Anant Malik and Rohan Yadav.
The court noted that accused Jitender Narula, Komal Poddar and Avinash Kumar were stated to be on bail. The court issued summons to accused them for the next date of hearing on December 1.
The court issued production warrant against accused Avtar Singh Kochhar. Vide a separate order, the court has dismissed the bail application of another accused Kamlesh Kothari.
The Delhi Police EOW had recently filed the charge sheet, naming 14 accused including Mr Chandrashekhar, Ms Paul and others in Rs 200 crore alleged cheating case.
The charge sheet has been filed under various sections of the IPC and provisions of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA).
According to the EOW, Ms Paul, Sukesh along with others used hawala routes and created shell companies to park the money earned from the proceeds of crime.
The EOW had registered an FIR against Mr Chandrasekhar for allegedly duping the spouses of former promoters of Ranbaxy, Shivinder Singh and Malvinder Singh of Rs 200 crore besides ongoing investigations against him in several cases across the country.
Sukesh Chandrashekhar and others were also recently arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act in the case.