Supreme Court Refuses Sukesh Chandrasekhar's Plea Against Eight-Year Jail Sentence In Impersonation Case
The Supreme Court on Monday refused to entertain a plea by alleged conman Sukesh Chandrasekhar seeking a stay on his conviction in a case involving impersonation of a Supreme Court judge. Chandrasekhar was sentenced to eight years in prison by a Delhi court for posing as a judge and attempting to influence a special judge in connection with a 2017 corruption case.
Delhi High Court Had Earlier Rejected His Plea
A Delhi court convicted Chandrasekhar on August 20 and handed him an eight-year prison sentence on August 29. He subsequently approached the Delhi High Court, challenging the trial court's decision to reject his request for a stay on the conviction and sentence while his appeal remained pending.
However, the High Court dismissed his plea on October 16, observing that there were no grounds to suspend the conviction.
"Having considered the submissions, this court is of the view that, since the appeal against the judgment of conviction is already pending, the petitioner's objections to the findings recorded therein, including the adverse observations and expressions used by the trial court, are matters which ought to be examined by the appellate court," the High Court had said.
It also allowed Chandrasekhar to raise all his arguments before the appellate court.
Challenging this order, he moved the Supreme Court. The petition came up before a bench comprising Justices J B Pardiwala and Manmohan on Monday. The bench declined to entertain his plea.
Why Sukesh Chandrasekhar Was Sentenced To Eight Years
The Delhi court had described Chandrasekhar's impersonation as "institutional sacrilege". It awarded him two years of rigorous imprisonment each for impersonating a public servant and intimidating a public servant. He received another four years for criminal intimidation through anonymous communication.
The court directed that all the substantive sentences run consecutively, taking his total prison term to eight years.
The case relates to a phone call made on April 28, 2017, when Chandrasekhar was in police custody in connection with a corruption case.
According to the prosecution, he gained access to a police constable's mobile phone and used it to contact Poonam Chaudhary, who was then the special judge handling cases under the Prevention of Corruption Act. He reportedly called her on her official landline and mobile phone.
The trial court found that Chandrasekhar first posed as the private secretary of a former Supreme Court judge and later impersonated the judge himself. It held that the prosecution had proved beyond reasonable doubt that he deliberately assumed the identity of a Supreme Court judge in an attempt to interfere with the administration of justice.
(With inputs from PTI)
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