Jacqueline Fernandez’s petition to cancel ED’s money laundering case was dismissed by Delhi High Court. The case involves alleged conman Sukesh Chandrashekhar and a Rs 200 crore scam.
New delhi: Today, on July 3, the Delhi High Court dismissed Bollywood actress Jacqueline Fernandez’s plea to cancel a money laundering case filed against her by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
The case is linked to an alleged Rs 200 crore scam involving alleged conman Sukesh Chandrashekhar.
Jacqueline Fernandez had asked the Court to cancel the Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) and the prosecution complaint (which is similar to a chargesheet) in which she was named as an accused.
The petition was heard by Justice Anish Dayal, who rejected her request. A detailed judgment is yet to be made available.
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The case goes back to claims that Fernandez received expensive gifts from Sukesh Chandrashekhar, who is accused of pretending to be a high-level officer from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) and the Home Ministry to cheat Delhi-based businesswoman Aditi Singh of nearly Rs 200 crores over a period of seven to eight months.
In December 2021, the ED filed its first prosecution complaint against eight people, and Jacqueline Fernandez was not part of that initial list.
However, on August 17, 2022, the ED filed a second supplementary prosecution complaint and officially named Fernandez as an accused. She then challenged this development in court.
Senior Advocate Siddharth Aggarwal represented Jacqueline Fernandez. He clarified that the actress was not trying to cancel the entire complaint but only the part that mentions her.
According to him, Fernandez had no idea she was receiving gifts from a criminal, and she had always cooperated with authorities.
He said,
“She has not sought quashing of the prosecution complaint in its entirety but only so far as it relates to Fernandez,”
He added that Fernandez is actually a witness in the original crime investigated by Delhi Police and that Chandrashekhar used similar tricks on her as he did on Aditi Singh.
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He said the conman made a spoof call pretending to be a top government official to get in touch with Fernandez’s makeup artist Shaan.
Fernandez claimed she was also a victim in the scam and was completely unaware of the criminal background of Sukesh Chandrashekhar and his associates.
She also mentioned that she had visited the ED office five times and recorded her statement under Section 50 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
On the other side, the Enforcement Directorate was represented by Special Counsel Zoheb Hossain. He strongly opposed Jacqueline’s plea and questioned whether it was even legally maintainable. He argued that the trial court had already taken proper judicial notice of the case.
He said
“The order of cognisance is a valid order… Without a challenge to the cognisance order, where such a view is in existence, the challenge to the prosecution complaint may not be available,”
Hossain also argued that Jacqueline Fernandez continued to accept gifts from Sukesh even after learning about his involvement in illegal activities.
He alleged that the petition to quash the case was only a strategy to delay the ongoing legal proceedings.
He argued,
“The petition to quash the case is an attempt to stall the proceedings,”
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