A Bangalore-based live-in partner of south Indian actor Leena Maria Paul has been arrested over a Rs 19-crore cheating case registered in Chennai Police, police said on Friday.
The arrest of Sukash Chandrashekhar, of Bhavani Nagar in Bangalore, comes a month after the arrest of Chennai-based actor Leena in south Delhi’s Vasant Kunj. Leena will be seen in John Abraham's production Madras Cafe.
“Sukash had approached Canara Bank in Chennai posing as an IAS officer and got a Rs 19-crore loan sanctioned using forged documents on the pretext of opening a firm, while he along with Leena also siphoned off Rs 76 lakh by seeking investment for a project,” said B S Jaiswal, deputy commissioner of police (south).
He used to go through websites of government departments for tender notices for various supplies. He then collected data of the prospective suppliers and technical details of the articles to be supplied.
On the basis of these details, he used to call prospective buyers, posing either as senior IAS officer or a person having good political connections. He assured the parties to facilitate them in the allotment of the tenders.
On these grounds, he used to collect hefty sums from prospective buyers and vanish by changing mobile numbers and residential addresses.
The Delhi Police began investigation after a team of Tamil Nadu Police approached the south district police on May 25 for help in tracing Sukash and Leena. Based on the details available with Tamil Nadu Police, the duo was located in a farmhouse on the outskirts of Asola village in Fatehpur Beri.
“Our team had been following Sukash ever since he escaped from the south Delhi farmhouse. On that day, he slipped away by taking advantage of a driver who resembled him. While our team was busy talking to the driver assuming him to be Sukash, he sneaked out,” Jaiswal added.
He had escaped to Indo-Nepal border from Delhi and visited Siliguri quite often from there. The police surveillance team traced him in Siliguri and finally arrested him in Kolkata.
Sukash had been evading arrest since 2011. He boasts of his contacts with film directors in south India, and used the same trick to get close to Leena.
Sources said he lived a luxurious life, and drove a red-beaconed vehicle posing himself to be former Tamil Nadu chief minister Karunanidhi’s grandson.
He used to drive a Range Rover in Delhi and used all this to impress youths in Fatehpur Beri. He told them that he knew filmmakers in Tamil film industry and can get them into Bollywood. To convince them, he told them that he got his live-in partner Leena her part in Madras Cafe.
Sukash is fond of expensive mobile phones, bags and cars. Police recovered diamond rings worth Rs 87 lakh, a Louis Vuitton bag worth Rs 3 lakh, and five expensive mobile phones.