CBI files chargesheet against 'conman' Sukesh Chandrashekhar for extortion by spoofing phone numbers

Sukesh Chandrashekhar

The CBI on Friday filed a chargesheet against alleged conman Sukesh Chandrashekhar for allegedly extorting over Rs 9 crore from people who are being investigated by different agencies, by spoofing phone numbers, officials said.

In its chargesheet filed before the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Chengalpattu, in Tamil Nadu's Kancheepuram district, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) alleged that the accused allegedly conspired to cheat by impersonation by using digital devices.

The agency in its chargesheet named Chandrashekhar, who is facing a number of cases by different agencies for impersonation and fraud, and Sanjay Jain, who used to handle his legal matters. "One of the accused (Chandrashekhar) had allegedly committed the offence while being on custody parole during October, 2019, and also impersonated many senior officers of the Government of India by using call spoofing techniques and made phone calls to various persons, who were facing criminal cases by different investigating agencies," a CBI spokesperson said in a statement.

The agency alleged that Chandrashekhar extorted large amounts of money as bribe from them on the assurance of settling their cases, but he misappropriated it for his personal use. In one such case, the CBI alleged that Chandrashekhar had targeted an organisation and individuals having a temple in Tirupati, who were under investigation by the the Income Tax department after it conducted raids in October 2019.

"The said accused (Chandrashekhar) contacted one of the persons handling the operations of the organisation by impersonating himself as the then Law Secretary, Government of India, and allegedly pressured them to pay Rs 7.50 crore," the CBI alleged. He used spoofing, a technique which alters the caller ID with any other number, giving an impression that high government functionaries were making the call.

Chandrashekhar allegedly called the office-bearers of the group, showing calling the numbers as landline numbers of higher government functionaries, but they actually originated from outside India. "The accused had also obtained foreign numbers and used them for collection of Rs 2 crore from Mumbai. The CBI had taken the custody of the accused. One of the accused (impersonator) is presently in judicial custody," the spokesperson said.