Jacqueline Fernandez questioned in 'conman' Sukesh Chandrashekhar's case; actress appears before ED
Jacqueline Fernandez was issued a fresh summons for the recording of her statement on Monday as the agency is tracking the remaining proceeds of crime in this case, officials said.
FollowActor Jacqueline Fernandez appeared before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday for a new round of questioning and to record a statement in connection with a money laundering case involving alleged conman Sukesh Chandrashekhar and others.
In accordance with the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, the agency had temporarily attached the Bollywood actor's funds in April for a total of Rs 7.27 crore (PMLA). The agency has previously questioned the 36-year-old actor in the aforementioned case two or three times. As the agency continues to track down the remaining proceeds of crime in this case, the actor was given a new summons on Monday for the recording of her statement, according to officials. A provisional order was issued against her for attaching fixed deposits worth Rs 7.12 crore apart from Rs 15 lakh cash as the agency called these funds "proceeds of crime".
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"Sukesh Chandrasekhar had given various gifts worth Rs 5.71 crore to  Jacqueline Fernandez from the proceeds of crime generated by criminal activities including extortion." "Chandrasekhar had put Pinky Irani, his long-time associate and co-accused in this case to deliver the said gifts to her," the ED had then said in a statement.
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In addition to these gifts, it said, Chandrasekhar also gave "funds to the tune of USD 1,72,913 (about Rs 1.3 crore as per current exchange rate) and AUD 26740 (approx. Rs 14 lakh) to the close family members of Fernandez out of the proceeds of crime through co-accused Avtar Singh Kochhar, an established and well known international hawala operator." Chandrasekhar "delivered cash to the tune of Rs 15 lakh to a scriptwriter on behalf of Fernandez as advance for writing a script of her web series project," the agency claimed after an investigation.
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Sri Lankan-born Fernandez made her film debut in the Hindi-language industry in 2009. Chandrashekhar is accused by the ED of extorting money from prominent individuals, including Aditi Singh, the wife of former Fortis Healthcare promoter Shivinder Mohan Singh, in order to buy gifts for Fernandez. He is accused of impersonating the Union home secretary and the law secretary over the phone in order to defraud Aditi Singh and her sister.
The ED said its investigation found that a person "was contacting people spoofing calls to dupe them as the numbers reflecting on their phone were from government officers and he claimed to be a government officer offering to help people for a price."
"Adopting this modus operandi, the said person contacted Aditi Singh, wife of Shivinder Mohan Singh, by impersonating himself as Union home secretary, Union law secretary, an officer from prime ministers office (PMO) and other junior officials and extorted more than Rs 200 crore from her over a period of one year on the pretext of contribution to party funds."
The actor claimed to have "received" gifts from Chandrashekhar, including two Hermes bracelets, three Gucci bags, two Chanel gym outfits, two pairs of Louis Vuitton shoes, two pairs of diamond earrings, and a bracelet with multicoloured stones, according to her statement to the ED, which was recorded in August and October of last year.
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Fernandez added that she returned a Mini Cooper car that she had received similarly. Chandrashekhar was in "regular contact" with Fernandez from February until his arrest on August 7 of last year, the agency's investigation revealed (by the Delhi Police). In this case, the ED has so far detained eight individuals, including Chandrashekhar, his wife Leena Maria Paul, Irani, and others.
"The said person was conman Sukesh Chandrasekhar who was running his illegal extortion business from the central jail in Delhi (Tihar jail) in connivance with jail officials," the ED said.
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