New Delhi, Aug 24 (IANS): The Enforcement Directorate (ED) said on Monday that it has seized a luxurious beach front bungalow located in Chennai, Rs 82.5 lakh in cash, 2 kg gold, 16 luxury cars and other high-end items in connection an extortion case involving Sukesh Chandrasekhar.

An ED official said that the agency seized the bungalow, cash, gold and luxury cars after it carried out searches at Chandrasekhar's premises on the outskirts of Chennai.

Chandrasekhar is accused of running an extortion ring worth Rs 200 crore from inside the Tihar jail in Delhi.

According to an ED source, the financial probe agency has also questioned Chandrasekhar's close aides in Tihar jail in connection with the case.

The ED source said that the fresh case is based on the complaint of Aditi S. Singh, the wife of former Fortis promoter Shivinder Singh, who alleged that she was cheated to the tune of Rs 200 crore by a caller posing as an official of the Ministry of Law for securing bail for her husband.

The Delhi Police's Economic Offences Wing (EOW) has registered a case based on the complaint of Aditi S. Singh.

EOW Additional Commissioner R.K. Singh said, "The special Cell of Delhi Police received a complaint from Aditi Singh on August 7 in which she mentioned that she received a call in June 2020 in which the caller introduced himself as a senior officer in the Ministry of Law and 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 Singh.

The officer said, "Therefore, an enquiry was conducted in which it was established that Sukash Chandrasekhar aka Sukesh is the mastermind behind this offence."

The Delhi Police had arrested Pradeep Ramdanee and Deepak Ramnani in connection with the case on August 7 and 8, respectively.

According to the police, during their interrogation, it was revealed that Chandrasekhar was running an extortion racket by using mobile phones from inside the jail.

"Chandrasekhar spoofed the landline numbers of the ministry to make the victim believe that the phone was received from the ministry," the Delhi Police had said on August 19.

The police had claimed 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, Assistant Jail Superintendent, and Subhash Batra, Deputy Superintendent, were found involved in the racket and they have admitted to have helped and facilitated the accused Shekar in lieu of illegal gratification," the police said.

"During the probe, it has also been found that Komal Poddar, 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," the police said.

The police have arrested Poddar, Kumar and Narula.