’So what? I swindled only corrupt babus’

Imposter claims his victims' dishonesty justified his crime

'So what? I swindled only corrupt babus'

Imposter claims his victims' dishonesty justified his crime

Chandrashekhar alias S Tyagaraj (53), the auto-rickshaw driver accused of swindling government officials by making tall claims about being a top government corruption fighter, claims to have had some scruples.

He says he targeted only corrupt officials.

A police officer investigating the case said, "Chandrashekhar confessed all but justified it saying he was robbing the corrupt."

Chandrashekhar was remanded in judicial custody.

"We suspect that Chandrashekhar has made several lakhs of rupees. We have seized documents from his house. He has good communication skills and cashed in on that to pursue his illegal activities," said M Mallesh, sub inspector, Commercial Street police.

Chandrashekhar also owns two taxis and a house in the city. He had been arrested on the same charges two years ago and was out on bail.

How he did it

Chandrashekhar used to collect mobile numbers of RTO officials and engineers of Public Works Department of Karnataka. He would then allegedly call them up, pose as a Lokayukta officer and inform them about a corruption complaint filed against them.

He would then allegedly claim he was going to investigate the charges and was open for a deal to not go ahead with the investigation, and after collecting the money he would assure the officers he would close their case.

Chandrashekhar has allegedly extorted money from officers in regions across the state, including Bijapur, Bellary, Bagalkot, Raichur, Bidar and Mandya, Channapatna and Chamrajnagar. His scam came to light when an officer told Lokayukta Superintendent of Police Madhukar Shetty about it. Shetty filed a complaint with the Commercial Street police. The police got Chandrashekhar's mobile number and tracked him.

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