SC asks Sukesh Chandrashekhar to name Tihar Jail officials to whom Rs 12.5 cr were paid

New Delhi [India], July 13 (ANI): The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked alleged 'conman' Sukesh Chandrashekhar to provide it with the names of Tihar jail officials to whom payment of Rs 12.5 crore was made on his behalf along with payment details.

A bench of Justices U.U. Lalit, S. Ravindra Bhat and Sudhanshu Dhulia asked Chandrashekhar to give the names of people who made the payment on his behalf and who took the money.

The bench said it will go into the root of the matter of whether Chandrasekhar was a victim of extortion in jail or he was bribing jail officials to run his syndicate or extortion racket from Tihar jail.

"We will go into the root of the matter, " the apex court said while posting for July 26 the plea of Chandrashekhar and his wife seeking transfer from Tihar jail to any other prison outside Delhi on the ground of a threat to life.

"To conclude whether petitioner was running a syndicate or bribing his way through, it would be key to identify persons who have the payments. We, therefore, call on him to submit the names of who paid and to whom the payments were made, by the next date of hearing," the top court said in its order.

Senior advocate R Basant appearing for Chandrashekhar has told the apex court that his client continuously faces threats to his life from the jail staff and protection money was being sought from him. He has alleged that the Tihar prison authorities have extorted around Rs 12.5 crore from him in the last two years.

As Basant sought shifting Chandrashekhar to another jail because he was subjected to threats, extortion etc., the bench remarked, "You are right, but we have to get into it as well. Relief can come later, if you are running a complete racket using staff, we would like to know the names of whom you paid as extortion. You have ignited the process, very good. Now we will try and ensure this doesn't happen again, we thank you for igniting."

In its order, the top court noted that an affidavit submitted on behalf of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) states that while inside Tihar he was running a crime syndicate, paying Rs 1.5 crore every month for facilities like using phones to pass messages to persons from his syndicate.

The affidavit states that some jail officials were on his monthly payroll, the bench further noted in the order.

Additional Solicitor General S.V. Raju, appearing for ED told the bench that allegations against Chandrashekhar were serious and he impersonated judges and government officials and conned people of hundreds of crores from jail.

When we caught him, now he wants to continue this from Chennai, Raju said while objecting to his plea for shifting to another jail.

Earlier, when the vacation bench had asked the Central government to inform it in which jail Chandrashekhar can be shifted the government had said that he and his wife who are currently lodged in Tihar Jail could be shifted to Mandoli Jail in Delhi.

ED had also sought prosecution of Chandrashekhar for perjury claiming that he has falsely stated in his affidavit about a physical assault in Tihar Jail and deliberately omitted the report of the doctors who ruled out any physical injury to him.

The Centre and the investigating agency had opposed his plea before the top court to transfer him and his wife from Tihar Jail to any other prison outside Delhi.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for ED, had said that Chandrashekhar used to call models and celebrities to his jail in collusion with prison staff, who have been suspended and an inquiry has been ordered against them.

ED had told the top court that Chandrashekhar indulged in money laundering, extortion, and impersonation of public officials including those holding constitutional posts.

Director General (Prisons), Delhi Prisons in an affidavit had stated that the claims of Chandrashekhar that he was assaulted in jail are vehemently denied as totally and wholly false and "fabricated for the ulterior motive of seeking transfer to another prison in order to repeat his misdemeanours and offences."

The Supreme Court on June 13 had said that it would be appropriate to transfer Chandrashekhar and his wife to some other jail so to allay the apprehension of all concerned and asked the Centre to take a decision on the appropriate jail to which he can be transferred.

Chandrashekhar is lodged in Tihar Jail on charges of money laundering and duping several persons and claimed a threat to his life in the prison.

Chandrashekhar along with his wife had moved the top court seeking his transfer from Tihar Jail to another prison and said that since he has levelled allegations against jail officials, he faces a threat to his life.

He is charged in many multi-crore fraud cases and is also accused of extorting Rs 200 crore from the family of former Fortis Healthcare and Ranbaxy Lab promoters Shivinder and Malvinder Singh from the premises of the prison.

He was also arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in a money laundering case linked to the 2017 Election Commission bribery case allegedly involving former AIADMK leader TTV Dhinakaran and others.

Several Bollywood actresses and models have been questioned by the ED for their alleged links to Chandrashekhar. (ANI)

Source: National