Sukesh Chandrasekhar is a 32-year-old man who is the prime accused in India’s biggest extortion case. The man has become the talk of the town. He has duped people of hundreds of crores of rupees. Chandrasekhar is a conman, there are no doubts about it. But he is a master at his criminal job. There is perhaps nobody in India which can run an extortion racket with the finesse that Sukesh ran his. Chandrasekhar’s operations have even impressed those investigating him. And that tells us quite a lot about the man’s skills at duping people. Let’s have a look at where Chandrasekhar comes from.
Who is Sukesh Chandrasekhar?
Born in a lower middle-class family in Bengaluru, Sukesh completed Class 12 from Madurai University and refused to study anymore. As a child, Sukesh would organise street car races in Bengaluru. His father, Vijayan Chandrashekhar, who recently passed away, always wanted him to study well. After schooling, Chandrasekhar skipped college and got into the real estate sector. Sukesh has been cheating and scamming people since he was a minor. At 17, Sukesh began cheating people by posing as senior government officers over the phone.
According to India Today, in 2007, when he had not even turned 18, Sukesh posed as a very high-ranking bureaucrat and duped over 100 people on the pretext of getting their work done by the Bangalore Development Authority. That year itself, he was arrested for the first time by Bengaluru’s Bannerghatta Police Station.
One would think that being arrested by the police so early in life would be a learning experience for Sukesh. And learn he did. The man began pursuing his goal of becoming a millionaire by hook or crook with enhanced vigour. Some time after being released by the police, Sukesh expanded his racket. He hired associates and went on a spree to extort and cheat people. An India Today report added that Sukesh was arrested several times thereafter, but upon release every time, he continued cheating people.
Chandrasekhar’s exploits:
Sukesh Chandrasekhar is no small fish. In his net are stars like Jacqueline Fernandez and Nora Fatehi. When he was lodged at Delhi’s Rohini jail as an undertrial, Sukesh Chandrashekhar extorted ₹200 crore from Malvinder Mohan Singh’s wife over a period of one year. He is lodged in Tihar for the same case and has 15 FIRs registered against him.
In the ₹200-crore money-laundering case, the ED has said that Sukesh Chandrasekhar had gifted a horse worth ₹52 lakh and a Persian cat worth ₹9 lakh to actor Jacqueline Fernandez. He also claimed to have gifted Nora Fatehi a luxury car. The chargesheet stated that Chandrasekhar revealed giving Jacqueline gifts worth ₹10 Crore. These gifts included diamond-studded jewellery sets, crockery, four Persian cats (cost of one cat is around ₹9 lakh) and a horse.
Sukesh Chandrasekhar is a skilled conman. He has just pulled off a massive extortion from within Tihar jail. By forming a racket with jail officials, the man used two mobile phones –iPhone11 and iPhone 12. Sukesh Chandrasekhar was given a separate cell by the accused jail officials and provided a cell phone with a SIM card from a foreign country. Using the facilities at his disposal, Chandrasekhar started calling the wife of Malvinder Mohan Singh. Her husband was also in jail. In the past one year, he extorted ₹200 crore from her by posing as a senior officer of the Law Ministry and also from the Home Ministry. On one occasion, he even told the victim, “Home Minister Amit Shah would be hearing the conversation and she should behave politely during the telephonic call.”
Also read: Sukesh Chandrasekhar is living a life of luxury inside Tihar, thanks to corrupt Jail officials
Among the victims of Sukesh Chandrasekhar’s scams is TTV Dhinakaran. After Jayalalitha’s death, Dhinakaran wished to desperately retain the “two leaves’ election symbol. Chandrasekhar got wind of Dhinakaran’s wish, and he then posed as a man who knew officials of the Election Commission of India and that he would pay a bribe to get the symbol in their favour. Dhinakaran then gave Chandrasekhar ₹50 crore for the job.
Should Sukesh Chandrasekhar be used as an asset?
Many people have watched the film ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’. Did you know the role played by Leonardo DiCaprio is actually that of a real man, named Jordan Belfort, who made millions in the 1990s through his investment company, Stratton Oakmont? Jordan Belfort served his time for his crimes, went on to become an author, and is now a travelling motivational speaker, delivering seminars and speeches on everything from sales advice to getting into the entrepreneurial mindset.
India had its own stock market wizard, who too can be referred to as a conman, although a market manipulator would be a more apt term to describe him. Today, a man like Sukesh Chandrasekhar can be used on multiple fronts by India, for both covert as well as overt financial, and perhaps, even security operations.
Officers from the Enforcement Directorate and police are reportedly impressed by his intelligence. A person who met Sukesh Chandrashekhar said, “If any person meets Sukesh for the first time, even for 30 minutes, that person would be following his advice. He talks really well and leaves a lasting impression on people.” Could Sukesh Chandrasekhar’s services on a variety of fronts be used by India? The idea is definitely worth giving a thought, and is not without a number of merits.