Sara Ali Khan was offered a car by Sukesh Chandrasekhar as a gift. (File)
New Delhi:
Sara Ali Khan, Janhvi Kapoor and Bhumi Pednekar are among the Bollywood stars in the role of a con man jailed last year and the killer has met various models and actresses posing as a man. business tycoon inside Delhi’s Tihar prison in 2018 – two sensational new episodes in the Sukesh Chandrasekhar saga have come about thanks to a recent allegation filed by the Department of Enforcement.
The agency said many of the actors and models were introduced to the scammer by an associate Pinky Irani, also known as Angel, 53, who brought some of them to meet Sukesh Chandrasekhar in prison. . She was arrested by the agency last December and was recently released on bail by the Delhi court.
Irani has been charged by the Bureau of Enforcement or the ED with money laundering and helping Chandrasekhar establish contact with actor Jacqueline Fernandez and sending her expensive gifts on his behalf.
An additional allegation, detailing Mumbai-based Irani’s role in money laundering against Chandrasekhar, 32, and others, was filed earlier this month in court by the Law Enforcement Department. .
The agency, in this prosecution complaint, has attached responses sent by Bollywood actors Bhumi Pednekar, Sara Ali Khan and Janhvi Kapoor, who allegedly approached Chandrasekhar through Irani.
Chandrasekhar and his wife Leena Maria Paul are being controlled by the Delhi Police as well as the ED for allegedly defrauding and extorting wealthy individuals such as former Fortis Healthcare promoter, Shivinder Mohan Singh’s wife, Aditi Singh.
Investigators discovered that Chandrasekhar, while at Rohini Prison in Delhi, allegedly operated a malicious machine using phone-spoofing technology. He was then transferred to Tihar prison.
The Bureau of Enforcement is tracking down those who are believed to have received the proceeds of this scam and trying to unearth traces of the money. So far, the agency has not named these actors or models as accused because they can be called as witnesses.
According to the allegation, Bollywood actor Bhumi Pednekar – among those on Chandrasekhar’s list – sent her reply to the company earlier this year saying that Irani texted her saying she was “Vice President (of) HR News Express Post and informed her that their Team Chairman (Chandrasekhar) is a fan of hers and wanted to talk to her about a big project and also wanted to give her a present. It’s a car.”
The 32-year-old actor told the agency that “she has not received any gifts from Chandrasekhar or his associates, including Pinky Irani, nor has she met or had any personal interactions with her. any individual, whether social or professional, to them.”
Sara Ali Khan told ED she doesn’t know anyone named Sukesh Chandrasekhar or Shekhar but someone named “Mr Suraj Reddy WhatsAppd her on May 21, 2021 saying he wants to give her a car as a family gesture and mentioned that his CEO Ms. Irani tried to contact her.”
Khan, 26, said Reddy’s people kept demanding gifts for her, and she repeatedly refused.
“However, after repeatedly turning him down, she agreed to receive a box of chocolates from him and he later sent a Franck Muller watch along with the chocolates,” the ED said.
Janhvi Kapoor told ED that while she was not approached by Chandrasekhar or Irani, she was contacted by a woman who identified herself as Leena from a company called Nail Artistry to be a celebrity guest at the opening ceremony. opened a beauty salon in Bengaluru.
She wrote to the management company saying that she opened the salon last July and received a luxury bag by Christian Dior and a professional fee of Rs 18.94 lakh to her bank account. her goods. She sent a transaction statement to the ED.
Nail Artistry is said to be the business enterprise of Leena Maria Paul.
“… it was established that by treating Sukesh Chandrasekhar as a business magnate, she (Irani) established his relationship with various models/actors and hid her true identity. him and there are many other models/actors associated with Chandrasekhar.
“She took some of them to Tihar prison to meet Sukesh Chandrasekhar and she impersonated Alka Kumar, P Kumar, Angel K, CFO of Jaya TV/Sun TV and CFO of News Express Post to contact. with these models/actors,” the ED alleges in the fee schedule.
It says the same operandi pattern was used by Irani and Chandrasekhar to approach Jacqueline Fernandez through her makeup artist S Muthathil.
The agency also recorded the accounts of several young models of which at least three told ED that they had been “introduced” to Chandrasekhar by Irani and that they had even met him unrestrictedly at the prison. Tihar in 2018 with her.
“Pinky Irani is a confidant and close mentor of Chandrasekhar. Not only has she created an entrepreneur facade for Chandrasekhar, she has also allowed him to present himself as a man of meaning. and a free man by making sure he can deliver what he is wanted,” the ED stated.
ED arrested Chandrasekhar, Paul, Irani, two other accomplices, Pradeep Ramnani and Deepak Ramnani in this case.
In August last year, it raided several Chandrasekhar premises and seized a sea-facing bungalow in Chennai, Rs 82.5 lakh cash and more than a dozen luxury cars.
In a statement, they stated that Chandrasekhar is a “known fraudster” and is being sought by the Delhi Police in a case of alleged criminal conspiracy, fraud and extortion for around 200 Rs crore.
The ED said: “Chandrasekhar is the mastermind of this scam. He has been part of the criminal world since he was 17. He has many FIRs against him…”.
Despite being in prison, Chandrasekhar “relentlessly detains” people.
“He (using a cell phone illegally bought in prison) with the help of technology made fake calls to deceive people because of the numbers displayed on the recipient’s phone number. Calls belong to high-ranking government officials.
The ED stated: “While talking (from prison) to these people, he claimed to be a government official offering to help people at the cost”.
(With input from PTI)
