Sukesh Chandrashekhar gets bail in ‘money laundering’ case: ‘Court can’t play footsie with state…’
In this case, Sukesh was accused of acting as a middleman for AIADMK leader T T V Dinakaran and trying to bribe an Election Commission official to obtain the party’s ‘two leaves’ poll symbol for the V K Sasikala faction.
A Delhi court Tuesday granted bail to Sukesh Chandrashekhar in a money laundering case lodged by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in 2017. This is the 27th case (out of 31) against Sukesh in which he has been granted bail.
“Liberty being the most sacrosanct norm in our Constitution, the court cannot preach liberty from its decisions while playing footsie with the State upon the bogey of special legislation or economic offences,” said Special Judge Vishal Gogne of Rouse Avenue Court in his order.
What is the case about?
The case pertains to allegations of Sukesh acting as a middleman for AIADMK leader T T V Dinakaran and bribing an Election Commission official to obtain the party’s ‘two leaves’ poll symbol for the V K Sasikala faction.
It was alleged that on April 14, 2017, he posed as IAS Saravana Kumar (private secretary to then law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad) and contacted Dinakaran saying he could get a favourable order from the ECI regarding their pending petition for the ‘two leaves’ election symbol and struck a deal.
On April 16, 2017, he was arrested from a five-star hotel in Delhi where proceeds of crime of Rs 1.30 crore were allegedly recovered from his possession.
Judge Gogne said: “While the offence of money laundering remains grave in nature, a special legislation like PMLA is not a grouse of the State to be exacted upon the liberty of an accused through the court. Thus, the existence of 31 cases (including the present case) against the accused does not defeat his right to bail in this particular case when the period of detention has crossed the threshold of half of the period of proposed imprisonment under section 4 PMLA. More so, when he is already on bail in 26 out of the 31 cases.”
“With the proceedings effectively being under stay, both in the predicate offence and the present complaint under PMLA for the past several years, the accused has not only served excessive detention during trial but also stands to suffer further prolonged detention without trial,” the judge added.
Other prominent cases
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Among other cases against Sukesh is the alleged Rs 200-crore extortion case wherein he posed as a PMO representative and called Aditi Singh, wife of former Ranbaxy owner Shivendra Singh, on the pretext of helping her husband get out of jail.
In 2021, Aditi Singh had lodged an FIR with the Delhi Police, claiming she was cheated of Rs 200 crore by a man posing as the “law secretary”, who promised to help with her husband’s cases if she contributed to the “party fund”.
A case of extortion and impersonation was registered with the Special Cell and Sukesh was arrested.
Nirbhay Thakur is a Senior Correspondent with The Indian Express who primarily covers district courts in Delhi and has reported on the trials of many high-profile cases since 2023.
Professional Background
Education: Nirbhay is an economics graduate from Delhi University.
Beats: His reporting spans the trial courts, and he occasionally interviews ambassadors and has a keen interest in doing data stories.
Specializations: He has a specific interest in data stories related to courts.
Core Strength: Nirbhay is known for tracking long-running legal sagas and providing meticulous updates on high-profile criminal trials.
Recent notable articles
In 2025, he has written long form articles and two investigations. Along with breaking many court stories, he has also done various exclusive stories.
1) A long form on Surender Koli, accused in the Nithari serial killings of 2006. He was acquitted after spending 2 decades in jail. was a branded man. Deemed the “cannibal" who allegedly lured children to his employer’s house in Noida, murdered them, and “ate their flesh” – his actions cited were cited as evidence of human depravity at its worst. However, the SC acquitted him finding various lapses in the investigation. The Indian Express spoke to his lawyers and traced the 2 decades journey.
2) For decades, the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) has been at the forefront of the Government’s national rankings, placed at No. 2 over the past two years alone. It has also been the crucible of campus activism, its protests often spilling into national debates, its student leaders going on to become the faces and voices of political parties of all hues and thoughts. The Indian Express looked at all court cases spanning over two decades and did an investigation.
3) Investigation on the 700 Delhi riots cases. The Indian Express found that in 17 of 93 acquittals (which amounted to 85% of the decided cases) in Delhi riots cases, courts red-flag ‘fabricated’ evidence and pulled up the police.
Signature Style
Nirbhay’s writing is characterized by its procedural depth. He excels at summarizing 400-page chargesheets and complex court orders into digestible news for the general public.
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