The Delhi Police's Economic Offence Wing (EOW) has registered a case after Aditi Singh, wife of former Fortis Healthcare promoter Shivinder Singh, alleged that she was cheated of Rs 200 crore for securing bail of her husband by a caller, who had introduced himself as the officer from the Union Ministry of Law.
The Delhi Police EOW Additional Commissioner RK Singh said, “The police’s Special Cell received a complaint from Aditi Singh on August 7 in which she mentioned that she received a call in June 2020 on her mobile phone, and in which the caller introduced himself as a senior officer in the Ministry of Law. He proposed to help her in securing bail for her husband.”
He said that in the complaint it was mentioned that the caller demanded money for getting the work done and conveyed the modalities regarding delivery of money to Aditi. “An enquiry was conducted in which it was established that Sukash Chandra Shekar aka Sukesh, who was lodged in Rohini Jail, is the mastermind behind this offence. In order to unearth the entire conspiracy, a trap was laid to capture the person getting the delivery of money. Pradeep Ramdanee and Deepak Ramnani were arrested in this case on August 7 and 8 respectively,” the additional commissioner said.
He said that during their interrogation, it was revealed that Shekar was running an extortion racket by using mobile phones from inside the jail. “Shekar has spoofed the landline numbers of the Ministry to make the victim believe that the phone was received from the Ministry. He was arrested and mobile phones used for the crime were recovered,” the officer said.
The case was transferred to the EOW to establish the money trail and to identify the sources and ultimate beneficiaries of money. “During investigation, the connecting links between the main accused Shekar and his associates are being established,” the officer said. He said that the questioning of Ramnani revealed that the accused was being facilitated by jail officials who used to receive gratification in lieu of the facilities provided to accused Shekar.
He said that Ramnani revealed the identity of the jail officials as well as the vehicles used by them to collect the money. “Based on the disclosure of Ramnani, Dharam Singh Meena, the assistant jail superintendent, and Subhash Batra, the deputy superintendent, were found involved in the racket and they have admitted to have helped and facilitated the accused, Shekar,” the officer said.
“During the probe, it has also been found that Komal Poddar, the manager of RBL Bank at Connaught Place, along with two of his associates Avinash Kumar and Jitender Narula, were involved in the dubious transactions for circulation of funds and arrangement of cash,” he said.
He said that Poddar, Kumar and Narula have also been arrested and searches are being conducted at various places to get the leads and the proceeds of crime.
