Delhi: 5 Rohini jail officers arrested for helping conman Sukesh Chandrashekhar

A police officer said these five officers from Rohini jail directly helped Chandrashekhar run his crime network from inside the prison

Five jail officers, which include two superintendents of Delhi’s Rohini jail, were arrested for allegedly helping con Sukesh Chandrashekhar in duping Aditi Singh, wife of former Religare promoter Shivinder Singh to the tune of crores of rupees, Delhi Police said on Tuesday.

Conman Sukesh Chandrashekhar allegedly duped Aditi Singh, wife of former Religare promoter Shivinder Singh of crores of rupees. (Representative photo/Shutterstock)

RK Singh, additional commissioner of police (economic offences wing) identified the five Rohini jail officers as superintendents Sunil Kumar and Surinder Chandra, deputy superintendents Mahendra Prasad and Laxmi Dutt and assistant superintendent Prakash Chand. The officers said that the five were “actively involved” in the racket. All the five were posted in Delhi’s Rohini jail, where Chandrashekhar was lodged. Chandrashekhar had allegedly conned Aditi by posing as a law ministry official and received at leastRs 4 crore by promising to get her husband released on bail.

Shivinder Singh, former promoter of Religare Enterprises, was arrested in October 2019 in a case pertaining to the alleged misappropriation of funds at its subsidiary Religare Finvest Ltd (RFL). Police had in June 2020 registered a case on Aditi’s complaint that some people who posed as officials from the ministry of law, took money from her by offering to bail her husband.

A police officer, who asked not to be named, said these five officers from Rohini jail directly helped Chandrashekhar run his crime network from inside the prison.

There are three prisons in Delhi - -Tihar, Rohini and Mandoli. The three prison complexes have 16 sub jails. Each sub jail is headed by a jail superintendent, who is assisted by junior officers such as deputy and assistant superintendents, head warder and warders.

“The two superintendents were posted as the head of the Rohini jail between 2019, 2020 and 2021. It was on their instructions that Chandrashekhar was lodged alone in a barrack. Normally, around 20-25 prisoners are lodged in the barrack. We have confessional statements of the arrested persons, who have claimed that the jail officers were paid about ₹15-60 lakh a month. This disclosure statement is part of our record, which will be submitted in court,” said an investigating officer, who asked not to be named.

To be sure, a disclosure made by an arrested person in custody is not admissible evidence in court.

A second officer, who asked not to be named, said, “The fraud started after phones were smuggled inside the jail. Chandrashekhar was guiding the superintendents on the people who should be posted in the jail. It was on his demands that many junior jail officers were assigned to him by the superintendents. One charge sheet has already been filed in the case against the people who were arrested before. We will question the recently arrested people, gather evidence, and file a supplementary charge sheet against them.”

On August 17, police arrested deputy superintendent Dharam Singh Meena and assistant superintendent Subash Bhatra in the case. Additional CP Singh, said the two men collected the money from Aditi and helped Chandrashekhar send messages to his other contacts for laundering it.

In the fraud case, until Tuesday, police have arrested 14 people, including Chandrashekhar, two jail officials, a branch manager of a private bank in Connaught Place and Chandrashekhar’s partner, actor Leena Maria Paul. Paul was arrested on September 5 for helping Chandrashekhar pull off the scam.

Of the arrested persons, at least 10 have been booked and charged under the stringent MCOCA (Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act). Apart from Delhi police, the Enforcement Directorate is independently probing allegations of money laundering against Chandrashekhar.

Chandrashekar was arrested in 2017 by Delhi Police for allegedly duping an AIADMK leader of ₹2 crore on the pretext of helping his party retain its two leaves symbol by bribing Election Commission officials.

The prison’s director-general, Sandeep Goel was not available for comment.