ED seizes ₹82.5L cash, house of alleged conman in Tamil Nadu

With a history of forgery and a known fascination for cars, Chandrasekar, who hails from Karnataka, has been accused in several criminal cases, including extortion across metro cities.

The Enforcement Directorate officials on Monday raided a high-profile conman, Sukesh Chandrasekhar, in the outskirts of Chennai, the agency said in a tweet. Following the raids, they seized a luxurious beachfront bungalow, 16 luxurious cars, ₹82.5 lakhs in cash, two kg gold and other high-end items.

Following the raids, the Enforcement Directorate seized a luxurious beachfront bungalow, 16 luxurious cars, ₹82.5 lakhs in cash, two kg gold and other high-end items. (HT File)

“The raids are a follow-up action based on a case filed by us,” said a senior official of the enforcement directorate, who did not wish to reveal more details. He added that Chandrasekhar is currently in jail. With a history of forgery and a known fascination for cars, Chandrasekar, who hails from Karnataka, has been accused in several criminal cases, including extortion across metro cities. He is known to return to crime in various cities after he received bail. Chandrasekar has faced charges of scamming people by being a middleman, targeting businessmen and is accused of posing as a relative of political leaders and even as a Supreme Court judge.

He was earlier accused of running an extortion racket of several crores, despite being behind bars in Tihar jail. He was also arrested by the Delhi police in the two-leaves symbol bribery case in 2017. Chandrasekhar had allegedly acted as a middleman by taking money from TTV Dhinakaran to bribe the Election Commission to allot the AIADMK’s two-leaves party symbol to his faction headed by his aunt V K Sasikala.

At that time the symbol was frozen, following the death of former chief minister J Jayalalithaa’s in office, and the AIADMK had split into factions. The symbol eventually went to the faction led by Edappadi Palaniswami and O Panneerselvam, who continue their dual leadership of the AIADMK while Dhinakaran went on to float a party with Sasikala’s supporters called Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) with an aim to retrieve the AIADMK.