Bollywood actress Jacqueline Fernandez on Friday moved a Delhi court, seeking permission to convert the approval of ₹Rs 200 crore money laundering case.” $A Rs 200-crore money laundering case involves alleged fraudster Sukesh Chandrasekhar. The court issued notice to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on the petition.
The application, which is set to change the course of the trial in the high-profile extortion case, was filed by the actor’s lawyer before Special Judge Prashant Sharma of the Patiala House Courts. The lawyer informed the court that a separate application had also been submitted to the ED.
The court has sought a response from the ED and will hear the matter on April 20.
If allowed, Fernandez will become a prosecution witness and will be tasked with revealing all the facts related to the case and the co-accused, in the interest of pardon or a lesser sentence.
It is certain that the trial in this matter has not yet begun, and the case is currently in the pleading stage regarding the point of the charge.
The ED case, based on a Delhi Police FIR from August 2021, alleges that Sukesh Chandrasekhar and his associates blackmailed $200 crore from the complainant Aditi Singh, wife of former Ranbaxy promoter Shivinder Singh, during 2020 and 2021, and posed as a senior central government official to arrange her husband’s release on bail.
The Executive Directorate named Fernandez as a defendant in a supplemental prosecution complaint dated August 17, 2022, alleging that she possessed proceeds of crime valued at more than $7 Crores in gifted articles.
Jacqueline’s lawyers have consistently maintained that she was not aware of Chandrasekhar’s criminal activities and therefore there was no criminal intent.
The federal agency said in its indictment that the racketeering funds were laundered through a network of shell companies and transactions with a portion of the funds allegedly used to purchase gifts and luxury assets.
While the original chargesheet named eight people, including Chandrasekhar as the main accused and the intermediary Pinky Irani, through whom Chandrasekhar communicated with the actress, Jacqueline’s name puts the total number of accused at nine.
Jacqueline was granted bail in the case in 2022, after the court noted that it was yet to be examined whether she had knowledge, intention or connection with Chandrasekhar giving her those gifts from the proceeds of crime.
The Delhi Police case, filed under the Maharashtra Control of Organized Crime Act (MCOCA), is being investigated by the Special Cell of Delhi Police.
Of the 31 cases against him, Chandrasekhar was granted bail in 27 of them.
