Model-turned-actress Leena Maria Paul arrested in Rs 200cr fraud case

New Delhi: Model-turned-film actress Leena Maria Paul has been arrested by the Delhi Police's Economic Offences Wing for helping her boyfriend Sukesh Chandrasekhar in extorting Rs 200 crore from a businessman's wife.

The police have invoked the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime (MCOCA) Act against the accused, a senior police officer said, adding that  further investigation into the matter is underway.

He said Leena allegedly helped Chandrasekhar in duping former Fortis Healthcare promoter Shivinder Mohan Singh's wife Aditi Singh.

An FIR was registered on August 7 after Aditi Singh informed police that a man posing as a senior official of the Law Ministry in June last year had offered to help her secure bail for her husband, who was in jail at that time, in return for money.

Shivinder Singh was arrested in a money laundering case related to alleged misappropriation of funds at Religare Finvest Ltd (RFL) in 2019.

According to the police, Chandrasekhar had made the call to Aditi Singh and he was arrested in August.

At the time of the incident, Chandrasekhar was lodged in Delhi's Rohini jail and was running an extortion racket from behind the bars.

The police had also arrested his two associates who operated for him from outside the prison along with two senior officials of Rohini jail for aiding Chandrasekhar.

During the course of investigation, the police had found that a manager of a bank in Connaught Place and his two associates were involved in the dubious transactions for circulation of funds and arrangement of cash and the three were subsequently arrested, a senior official said.

Additional Commissioner of Police (Economic Offences Wing) R K Singh said Chandrasekhar's associates revealed that they were helped by Rohini jail officials.

"An assistant jail superintendent and the deputy superintendent of Rohini Jail were found involved in the racket and they have admitted to have helped the accused. The two jail officials were also arrested, the police had said.

Sukesh, who went by the alias Balaji, has been slapped with almost 20 cases.

Though he was arrested in 2017, he operated a racket from within the four walls of his Tihar jail cell using the phones of the jail staff.

He posed as government officials and extorted money from businessmen. An inquiry into the cheating case revealed that he had extorted Rs 200 crore during his time at Tihar.

He extracted almost Rs 75 crore from businessmen by impressing that he is a close relative of a politician sitting at the helm of the Bangalore Development Authority.

Another case was that Sukesh took Rs 50 crore from former AIADMK leader TTV Dinakaran on the pretext of bribing the Election Commission officials for allotting the 'two leaves' symbol for the latter's party.

Earlier, Leena's house was searched based on the information received from the arrested manager of the RBL Bank, Komal Poddar, in connection with this case.

From her very short film career to her association with fraudsters, involvement in cheating cases to being a target of underworld don Ravi Pujari's gang in 2017 shootout at her beauty parlour in Kochi, Leena has always been in the news for the wrong reasons.

Leena was first arrested along with Sukesh in 2013 for cheating the Canara Bank, Ambattur branch, near Chennai, of Rs 19 crore and for extorting money worth Rs 76 lakh from a businessman by impersonating as an IAS officer. 

The duo continued their extortion activities even while on bail.

Leena has to her credit assets which even frontline heroines in Malayalam and other film industries do not have.

She, along with Sukesh, owns a posh beachfront bungalow in Chennai. It is valued at a minimum price of Rs 15 crore.

About nine luxury vehicles and revolvers were then seized from them.

It is alleged that the duo cornered this house by using ill-gotten money raised through Benami deals.

She lives there with aides and security guards, who are in attendance around the clock.

The Enforcement Directorate had recently confiscated her bungalow, 6 luxury cars, 2 kilos of gold, Rs 82.50 lakh in cash and several expensive bags (some worth Rs 29.6 lakh) and shoes from her house.

In her short career in the tinsel world, she acted in movies such as Red Chillies, Madras Cafe, Kobra and Husbands in Goa.

Sukesh is currently languishing in Rohini Jail in Delhi.

(With inputs from PTI)