Was forced to pay Rs 10 crore to Satyendar Jain, claims Sukesh Chandrashekhar in letter to L-G

Chandrashekhar claimed that he paid an amount of Rs 10 crore to Jain as 'protection money'

Conman Sukesh Chandrasekhar, currently lodged in Tihar Jail, has made sensational claims that he paid over Rs 50 crore to AAP for an “important” post in the party, Rs 10 crore to jailed minister Satyendar Jain and Rs 12.5 crore to jail Director General Sandeep Goel as “protection money”.

The claims were made by Sukesh in a letter dated October 7 sent to Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena even as Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday rubbished the allegations as “completely fictitious” aimed at diverting attention from the Morbi tragedy and to tarnish AAP’s image ahead of Gujarat Assembly elections where the BJP is in “trouble”.

BJP National Vice President Baijayant Panda said it takes "conmanship of astronomical levels to con/extort such big sums from super conman" and "Scratch a little and abominable truths about AAP are out so brazenly, all under the tutelage of Arvind Kejriwal". BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said it would not be an exaggeration to say AAP has extorted from an extortionist.

Sukesh’s allegation also comes soon after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) claimed in a court that Jain had met a witness in Tihar Jail and tried to tamper with evidence.

In his letter, Sukesh claimed that he knew Jain since 2015 and has “contributed” more than Rs 50 crore to the AAP “in promise of giving me an important post in the party” in the south and helping him with a Rajya Sabha seat. He also claimed that after his arrest in 2017, Jain, who was also Jail Minister, asked him whether he had disclosed his contribution to AAP.

In 2019, Sukesh alleged, Jain along with his Secretary and close friend Sushil met him in jail and asked him to pay Rs 2 crore every month as “protection money” to “live safely” in the jail and to get basic facilities besides asking to pay Rs 1.5 crore to Goel, who he said was a “loyal associate” of the minister. Jain forced him to pay Rs 10 crore within 2-3 months, he alleged.

He claimed the whole money was collected through his associate “Chaturvedi” in Kolkata. “Hence a total amount of Rs 10 crore was paid to Satyendar Jain and Rs 12.50 crore to DG Prison Sandeep Goel,” he claimed in the letter.

Sukesh also claimed he had disclosed about Goel running a racket in a petition in Delhi High Court, besides telling the CBI about the money paid to both Jain and Goel.

He also alleged that Jain, who is presently lodged in Tihar in a money laundering case, is “harassing and threatening” to withdraw the case.

Responding to the allegations, Kejriwal said when the BJP is losing an election, it will use someone’s shoulder to fire at the opponent while claiming that the saffron party used his former associate Kumar Viswas to target AAP during the Punjab elections.

“Now the BJP is in shambles in Gujarat ahead of elections. They had now sought Sukesh’s shoulder fire on us. It is said Prime Minister Narendra Modi is very popular but the BJP has to use a conman in Tihar jail who has impersonated a Chief Minister’s son, CBI officer and PMO official to target us,” he said.

He also said the Morbi tragedy in Gujarat is now off the news channels and everyone is discussing a conman’s letter. “This letter is to divert attention from the Morbi tragedy. It is a fake story, a completely fictitious one. There is nothing more blatant than this. They have successfully diverted attention,” he said.

Kejriwal also said that a case was filed against Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia in connection with the excise policy but nothing has been found in the last two months despite around 800 officers being deployed to find irregularities. “Similarly, allegations have been made against bus purchase, construction of roads etc. But nothing has come out,” he added.