Satyendra Jain and Sukesh Chandrasekhar are close friends, claims BJP after conman writes letter to Delhi L-G

Vibha Sharma

New Delhi, November 1

Aam Aadmi Party’s jailed minister Satyendra Jain and conman Sukesh Chandrasekhar are “close friends”, the BJP alleged on Tuesday, accusing AAP of “conning the conman by extorting protection money from him”.

Ahead of the Gujarat Assembly election and the MCD polls, the AAP on Tuesday landed into a new controversy after Sukesh Chandrasekhar, who is currently lodged in Tihar Jail, accused Jain of extorting protection money from him.

In a letter to Delhi L-G VK Saxena, Chandrasekhar alleged that he paid Rs 10 crore to Jain as “protection money” in jail in a matter of two-three months.

“Thag ke ghar main thagi hui hai,” BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra alleged, calling Chandrasekhar a “yaar” of Jain and accusing the AAP of being a “thug” party.

Quoting Sukesh Chandrasekhar, Patra said the conman had also paid Rs 50 crore to the AAP in lieu of an important political position in South India. The jailed conman was said to be close to the V Sasikala faction of AIADMK in Tamil Nadu.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, however, called it an attempt by the BJP to “digress attention from the Morbi tragedy” in the poll-bound Gujarat where hundreds of people were killed.

“Today, the Morbi tragedy is missing from TV news channels and only Satyendra Jain-Sukesh Chandrasekhar are being discussed. Who will believe a conman who duped so many people by impersonating and other ways,” Kejriwal said.

According to Sukesh Chandrasekhar, “After my arrest in 2017, I was lodged in Tihar Jail and was visited multiple times by Mr Satyendar Jain, who held the portfolio of jail minister…In 2019 again, I was visited by Jain, whose secretary asked me to pay Rs 2 crore every month as protection money and to get basic facilities inside the jail.”