‘Sukesh Chandrashekhar tried to con trial judge too: Delhi Police to SC

According to police, Sukesh Chandrashekhar impersonated a Supreme Court judge in a phone call that he made to a trial judge days after his arrest in 2017 to ask that he should be granted bail

NEW DELHI: Sukesh Chandrashekhar, the man who faces multiple cases of cheating people even while in jail, tried to influence a trial judge in Delhi by impersonating a Supreme Court judge in 2017 within a fortnight of his arrest, the Delhi Police told the Supreme Court on Monday.

Sukesh Chandrashekhar was first arrested by the Delhi police from a five-star hotel in April 2017 (AP File)

Chandrashekhar was first arrested by the city police from a five-star hotel in April 2017 on charges that Chandrashekhar fixed a ₹50 crore deal to get AIADMK (Amma) faction leader TTV Dhinakaran his favoured election symbol by bribing his contacts in the election commission.

According to an affidavit filed by the Delhi police in the Supreme Court on Monday, Chandrashekhar made the first effort to con the trial judge soon after.

“A call was made on the landline phone of special judge (Prevention of Corruption) Poonam Chaudhary on April 28, 2017, wherein a person posing as Justice Kurian Joseph of Supreme Court of India told the special judge to grant bail to the accused,” the police affidavit said. Justice Kurian Joseph was then a judge of the top court and retired in November 2018.

This event took place when Sukesh was in the custody of the Delhi police from April 17 to April 28, 2017. The day when he made the call, his bail application was coming up for hearing before the trial judge.

The affidavit said Sukesh has used mobile phones on several occasions even when he was lodged at Tihar Jail to run his extortion racket and used a spoofing app to impersonate the top bureaucrats.

Presently Sukesh and his wife Leena Paulose are lodged at Mandoli Jail and have filed a petition in the top court to be shifted to another jail, claiming that there was a threat to their life because they accused jail officials of receiving ₹12 crore in protection money.

However, the Delhi police which is probing the complaint informed the court that Sukesh bribed jail officials to get unhindered access to mobile phone and office space inside jail. It also underlined that the couple wanted to shifted out because prison authorities were now familiar with his modus operandi and had taken preventive steps.

“Sukesh is not sitting silently even in judicial custody. Three separate criminal cases have been registered against him while he was running in judicial custody period and in each case, he tried to manage the whole system and disobey the law.”

It added: “Transferring the petitioners to any other prison would be hazardous as the petitioner is likely to repeat the same mischief and offences from within the jail as he has done on repeated occasions in the past.”

The top court asked police to take cognisance of Sukesh’s complaint so that nothing untoward happens till the next date of hearing in the second week of January.