A Delhi court on Friday issued notice to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) after receiving a plea filed by Bollywood actor Jacqueline Fernandez. The actress, in her plea, sought permission to turn approver in the alleged Rs 200 crore money laundering case involving conman Sukesh Chandrashekhar.
Jacqueliene Fernandez turns approver in Sukesh Chandrashekhar`s case
Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Prashant Sharma of the Patiala House Court recently passed the order and further listed the matter for further proceedings on April 20. For the unversed, Fernandez was named in the case on claims that she received expensive gifts from the alleged conman. She argued that she did not knowingly receive any gifts, adding that she is a witness in the predicate offence (Delhi Police case).
The actress also argued that just like in the case of the complainant Singh, Chandrashekhar adopted the same deceptive technique of making a spoof phone call posing as a high-ranking government official to get in touch with her makeup artist, Shaan.
She further claimed that she was also a victim of Chandrashekhar’s scheme and that she was unaware of any illegal activity by him and his associates. Fernandez stated that she had appeared before the ED five times to record her statement under Section 50 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
About the case
Notably, the ED’s case is based on a Delhi Police FIR dating back to August 2021, which alleged that Sukesh Chandrasekhar and his associates extorted a whopping Rs 200 crore from the complainant. The complaint was filed by Aditi Singh, wife of former Ranbaxy promoter Shivender Singh, during a period of seven to eight months in 2020 and 2021. Sukesh reportedly impersonated a top central government official to arrange for her husband’s release on bail.
Initially, the prosecution complaint was filed against eight accused in December 2021, while Fernandez was not named in the complaint. Later on August 17, 2022, the ED filed a second supplementary prosecution complaint in the matter, which also named Fernandez as an accused.
The High Court had rejected Fernadez`s plea to quash the case against her in July last year.
