Alleged conman Sukesh Chandrashekhar's latest letter to LG bid to undermine ED's charge sheet?

Shekhar Singh
New Delhi, Oct 18 (IANS) Sukesh Chandrashekhar, the alleged mastermind of extortion, cheating, and money laundering, has injected a new twist into the ongoing investigation against him by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

Chandrashekhar appears to have recanted his previous statements, casting doubt on the credibility of the ED's charge sheet.

Notably, Chandrashekhar recently made allegations against the Delhi Police's Economic Offences Wing (EOW), contending that the investigation into eight prison officials was biased.

He asserted that he hadn't made any payments to these officials.

However, the ED's charge sheet had previously documented Chandrashekhar's claims of monthly payments to prison officials and his involvement in procuring a flat for them.

Recently, Delhi Lt Governor, V.K. Saxena gave nod to the Delhi Police's EOW to initiate a probe against the eight prison officials under section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption (PoC) Act for alleged organised crime syndicate reportedly operated by Chandrashekhar from Rohini Jail.

The jail officials who are facing probe are identified as Sunil Kumar, Sunder Bora (both Superintendents), Prakash Chand, Mahender Prasad Sundriyal, Subhash Batra (all Deputy Superintendents), Dharam Singh Meena, Lakshmi Dutt, and Prakash Chand (all Assistant Superintendents).

"I have not paid even a single rupee to any of the other said 8 officials or the 83 jail officials. My transactions were only with the said Satyendra Jain (AAP leader) and Sandeep Goel (former DG Prison), who received the protection money from me through my staff," Chandrashekhar claimed through his letter sent to LG on October 13.

However, in its fourth supplementary charge sheet dated April 6, citing Chandrashekhar’s statement, the ED said that he was paying monthly "protection money" to prison officials ranging from Rs 25 lakh for Assistant Superintendents to Rs two crore at the top.

The ED specified that Meena's primary responsibilities included overseeing inmate behaviour within the jail, cultivating intelligence networks with the assistance of other officers, conducting routine inspections of cells and barracks, and, if any misconduct was detected, initiating complaints against the concerned inmates.

The charge sheet pointed out that Meena, in collaboration with other prison officials, actively facilitated the provision of unauthorised and exceptional privileges to Chandrashekhar.

An illustrative example includes Meena's role in enabling Chandrashekhar's access to the internet and mobile phones. The ED in its charge sheet, as per Chandrashekhar’s statement, stated that he had disbursed a sum ranging from Rs 50-60 lakh to three Assistant Superintendents, including Meena.

"The amounts were consistently collected by Meena from Deepak Ramnani, an associate of Chandrasekhar, based on his instructions. Subsequently, Meena would distribute these funds among the jail staff. The coordination for these transactions, overseen by Meena, occurred within the jail through direct face-to-face meetings and via WhatsApp on his mobile phone," as per Chandrashekhar's statement to ED, which is in the charge sheet.

During the ED investigation, it was uncovered that Meena had purchased a flat in Rohini with a registered value of Rs 54 lakh, while the apartment's market value stood at around Rs 90-95 lakh. Consequently, it is plausible that the remaining amount of Rs 40 lakh was paid in cash by Meena, originating from the proceeds of illicit activities.

Now, in the letter to LG, Chandrashekhar's claims have raised eyebrows of the investigators. In his letter to LG, he alleged that the EOW has done a complete bias and botched investigation, as the EOW senior officials investigating his case in EOW are very close associates of AAM Aadmi party members, such as Kailash Gehlot and Satyendra Jain.

“Apart from this Sandeep Goel, Ex-DG also influenced the probe to remove his name from the investigation and diverted it to the smaller officials of the jail. As Sandeep Goel was with the EOW before and being a high rank officer at that time, misused his power, and made sure, his name and Satyender Jain's name was not included in any manner in the investigation,” he claimed.

Now, during EOW investigation, it was emerged that these eight jail officials, already arrested under provisions of MCOCA for facilitating the organised crime syndicate run by Chandrashekhar, operating from the Barrack No. 204, Ward No. 3, Jail No. 10, Rohini, made his stay comfortable and ensured privacy so that he could use mobile phones in the jail,in lieu of pecuniary gains.

The footage of various cameras of Rohini Jail were collected and analysed, duty roster of the said staff was checked, phone details were analysed and information was collected on the basis of the disclosure of the accused persons.

“It was found that the said staff was deployed in the barrack of Chandrashekhar in consultation with him so as to help him to carry out his criminal activities, for pecuniary gains,” said the official.

A separate barrack was exclusively provided to Chandrashekhar by these Jail officials in gross violation of Jail Manual, for pecuniary gains received through Assistant Superintendent Meena on regular basis, as per officials.

Between 2020 and early 2021, while incarcerated at Delhi's Rohini jail, Chandrashekhar had allegedly orchestrated a heist amounting to Rs 200 crore. This scheme involved deceiving Aditi Singh, the wife of imprisoned industrialist Shivinder Mohan, by impersonating the Union Law Secretary and offering to secure her husband's release.

He also stands accused of posing as a high-ranking official within the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).

Former Jail Superintendent Bora, Deputy Superintendent Sundriyal, and Assistant Superintendent Meena who were all posted in Rohini prison, were arrested by the ED on February 7 this year.

Chandrashekhar is entangled in no less than 32 criminal cases spanning across Delhi, Mumbai, Karnataka, and other states. He is currently under scrutiny by various law enforcement agencies, including the Delhi Police, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), and the ED, for alleged offences related to fraud, money laundering, and extortion from prominent individuals.

(Shekhar Singh can be reached at [email protected])