Enforcement Directorate officials, on Monday, raided the posh residence of alleged conman Sukesh Chandrasekar on the scenic East Coast Road, in the outskirts of Chennai.
The special cell of the Delhi Police had registered a case against him on August 7, 2021. Based on it and the FIR filed in this case, the ED started a separate money-laundering investigation against Chandrasekhar. According to sources, he used to pose as a government official and extort money from businessmen. Sources also say that he was in contact with high-profile businessmen while he was in jail.
He was released on parole from Tihar Jail in November 2020 to perform his father’s last rites and his parole was extended for six months under mysterious circumstances. But, while in the prison, Chandrasekhar had allegedly contacted Aditi Singh, wife of Shivinder Singh, who is one of the promoters of Religare Enterprises. Shivinder Singh is also in Tihar jail. Chandrasekhar introduced himself as an official from the law ministry and promised to secure bail for her husband and demanded money. On the complaint of Aditi Singh, two people who came to collect the money on behalf of Chandrasekhar were arrested. Subsequently, the iPhone used by him in prison was also seized.
In this connection, the ED today undertook searches in Chennai and seized huge amount of cash and luxury cars. Chandrasekar is facing more than 20 cases across India, and is also under the CBI scanner.
Chandrasekhar, incidentally, was involved in the two-leaves bribery case. In the case registered in 2017, he allegedly acted as a middleman by taking money from T.T.V. Dhinakaran to bribe the Election Commission to allot the AIADMK’s two-leaves party symbol to the faction headed by the ousted AIADMK general secretary V.K. Sasikala.