‘Abuse of law’: Supreme Court junks Sukesh Chandrasekhar plea to change jails

Calling it an abuse of the process of the law, the Supreme Court on 18 February, Tuesday, dismissed a plea from alleged conman Sukesh Chandrasekhar to shift him from Mandoli Jail in the national capital to any other prison except the ones in Punjab and Delhi.

A bench of justices Bela M. Trivedi and P.B. Varale noted that similar pleas previously filed by Chandrasekhar were dismissed by the top court.

The bench told Chandrasekhar that his grievance was against the Delhi government and now, with a change in the dispensation, the grievance does not survive.

"You have money to spend, you keep on taking chances. This is abuse of process of law. How can you keep filing same petition?" the bench asked.

It went on, "We are not inclined to entertain the petition filed under Article 32 of the Constitution. We have not expressed [an] opinion on [the] merits of the case. However, we cannot resist ourselves in expressing that [the] present petitioner has tried to misuse [the] process of law by filing writs one after another under [the] guise of changed circumstances."

Senior advocate Shoeb Alam, appearing for Chandrasekhar, said the petitioner had a right under Article 21 of the Constitution not to be kept away from his family.

He sought Chandrasekhar to be sent to any jail in Karnataka or near it.

"We are worried about society and its safety also. Your fundamental rights cannot be enforced at the cost of others. Look at the kind of allegations you levelled against the officers," added the bench.

The apex court had sought a response from the Delhi government on Chandrasekhar's plea.

Chandrasekhar claimed he was put under surveillance with two cameras to pressure him to withdraw his complaints.

His lawyer had argued Delhi lieutenant governor V.K. Saxena recommended a probe by the CBI against former minister Satyendra Jain on Chandrasekhar's complaint.

"Please, send me anywhere in the country except Punjab and Delhi, where the Aam Aadmi Party is not there," he had submitted.

The top court last year dismissed Chandrasekhar and his wife's plea seeking a direction to authorities to shift them from Mandoli Jail to a prison outside Delhi, raising security concerns, and said his plea was "without substance" and there was "no justification to grant indulgence" to them.

Chandrasekhar accused Jain of extorting Rs 10 crore "protection money" from him aside from claiming that he contributed about Rs 50 crore to AAP.

He was earlier transferred from Tihar Jail to Mandoli Jail after he approached the court claiming threat to his life.

The alleged conman and his wife are lodged in jail on charges of alleged moneylaundering and cheating several people.