A32-year-old Suresh Chandrashekhar, who comes across as an ordinary man at first glance, has managed to become the talk of the town. He is the millionaire conman who is involved in extorting hundreds of crores from businessmen, politicians and celebrities, including actors Jacqueline Fernandez and Nora Fatehi.

If it could be called a skill, Sukesh Chandrashekhar mastered the ‘skill’ of impersonation.

When he was arrested this time by the Delhi Police and the Enforcement Directorate, officers who met him were 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.”

Sukesh Chandrashekhar was born in a lower middle-class family in Karnataka’s Bengaluru. His father, Vijayan Chandrashekhar, who recently passed away, always wanted him to study well. A resident of Benglaluru’s Bhawani Nagar, Sukesh completed Class 12 from Madurai University and refused to study anymore. He started working in the real-estate sector. Passionate about cars, Sukesh also started organising car races when he was a minor.

THE MILLIONAIRE DREAM

An officer of Delhi Police, who investigated Sukesh Chandrashekhar told India Today TV, “During the interrogation, we learnt that Sukesh used to dream of being a millionaire in his life and to materialise his dream, he was determined to earn money by hook or by crook.“

Sukesh achieved his dream, but landed in jail.

From the age of 17, Sukesh started cheating people by posing as senior government officers over the phone. In 2007, when he had not even turned 18, he 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. But, he was soon exposed. In 2007, he was arrested for the first time by Banglore’s Bannerghatta Police Station.

Once he was out of police custody, he realised that it would be foolish to stop now. Later, he made some associates, expanded his racket and went on a spree to extort and cheat people. He was arrested several times by police, but as soon as he was out on bail, he continued conning people.

A BOLLYWOOD FAN

A fan of movies and Bollywood, in 2010, Sukesh alias Balaji, came in contact with model and actor Leena Paulose who played a role in the movie Madras Cafe. Soon, they started living together. Leena also became his partner in crime and started helping Sukesh with conning people. Leena and Sukesh started living together and in 2015, they got married.

While Sukesh was married to Leena, he reportedly had affairs with many Bollywood celebs and he dated them till the time he was arrested by the police this year.

According to an officer, “Sukesh used to involve new associates in his team as per the requirement for the commission of crime. But his wife Leena, continuously remained involved with his criminal activities.”

Leena was also arrested in three cases with him. Sukesh also came under the scanner of central agencies. In 2015, Sukesh moved to Mumbai with Leena and floated a Ponzi scheme. Over 450 investors deposited their money in his company only to be looted. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed a case and Sukesh and Leena were named as accused for cheating the investors to the tune of Rs 19.5 crore.

Not scared of being arrested, Sukesh kept posing as bureaucrats from the Law Ministry, Home Ministry, senior functionaries of the courts and continued conning people.

In 2017, the Delhi Police’s Crime Branch arrested Sukesh on the complaint of politician TTV Dhinakaran, who was also cheated by Sukesh. Dhinakaran wanted to acquire the legacy of Jayalalithaa and retain the “two leaves’ election symbol. Sukesh got to know about Dhinakaran’s desperation and made a deal of Rs 50 crore.

Sukesh told him that he knew the officials of the Election Commission of India and would pay a bribe to get the symbol in their favour. Later, Dhinakaran learnt about Sukesh and filed a complaint, after which he was arrested.

He was lodged in Delhi’s Tihar Jail. While in custody, he formed a fresh racket with jail officials, his wife and other high-profile prisoners. He arranged a mobile phone and started calling the wife of a businessman through four applications. Her husband was also in jail.

In 2020-2021, within one year, he extorted Rs 200 crore from her by posing as a senior officer of the Law Ministry and also from the Home Ministry. On one occasion, he told the victim that, “Home Minister Amit Shah would be hearing the conversation and she should behave politely during the telephonic call.”

Sukesh would always end up his conversation with “Jai Hind” to impress his victims and convince them that he was serving the government.

While Sukesh was in jail, he would also speak to Bollywood actors, send them expensive gifts, provide them with money and, on a few occasions, even met one of them when he was out on bail. Apart from actors Jacqueline Fernandez and Nora Fatehi, at least two top big actresses were sent expensive gifts by him.

At the age of 32, Sukesh is now being investigated for 32 criminal cases by several state police and three central agencies – CBI, Enforcement Directorate and Income Tax.