Conman Sukesh Chandrashekhar is serving time in Delhi's Tihar Jail
Conman Sukesh Chandrashekhar has been ordered by the Supreme Court to give details of people who allegedly paid up to Rs 12.5 crore on his behalf to Delhi's Tihar Jail officials and others. The Supreme Court also told Mr Chandrashekhar to give the names of people who took the payments.
The Supreme Court order came while hearing Mr Chandrashekhar's petition seeking protection for him and his wife in Tiar Jail, where they are serving time after their arrest in extortion cases last year.
The couple have alleged they face threats and extortion from Tihar Jail officials, who they also alleged have extorted up to Rs 12.5 crore from them.
The list of names is needed to find out whether Mr Chandrasekhar was actually a victim of extortion in jail or he was bribing jail officials to run his racket from jail, the Supreme Court said.
"We will go into the root of the matter," the Supreme Court said. It told the conman to give the list of names in 10 days.
The Supreme Court then told Additional Solicitor General SV Raju to speak with Tihar Jail chief about Mr Chandrashekhar's safety concerns.
The Enforcement Directorate has alleged Mr Chandrashekar kept jail officials on his payroll and paid Rs 1.5 crore per month to them to use mobile phones and run his racket from behind bars.
The conman also impersonated Supreme Court judges as part of the racket, the probe agency said.
The matter will be heard next on July 10.
Mr Chandrashekhar is charged with many multi-crore fraud cases and is also accused of duping high-profile individuals, including the family of former Fortis Healthcare and Ranbaxy Lab promoters Shivinder and Malvinder Singh. He allegedly did all this from jail.
The case against Mr Chandrashekhar was filed following a complaint by Aditi Singh, wife of Shivinder Singh, who accused him of taking money from her after promising he would arrange for her husband's release after he was jailed in 2019 in a money laundering case.
As the investigation against Mr Chandrashekhar widened, an uber-luxe lifestyle of a flamboyant conman came to the fore - a seaside mansion in Chennai, a fleet of 23 cars including a Ferrari, a Bentley and a Rolls Royce.
Actor Jacqueline Fernandez's name came up during the investigation. The Enforcement Directorate alleged Mr Chandrashekhar gave gifts worth Rs 5.71 crore to the actor from the Rs 200 crore he allegedly extorted from the family of Shivinder Singh.
Mr Chandrashekhar had claimed he was in a relationship with the actor.