A Delhi-based court has summoned the Bollywood actress Jacqueline Fernandez to appear on September 26, 2022 after running through the details of the charge-sheet filed by the Enforcement Directorate, the leading law-enforcement agency in India.
The ED stated that the Bollywood actress Fernandez was reportedly aware of conman Sukesh Chandrashekhar’s criminal past and ‘cooked up’ stories to evade inquiry in a multi-million money-laundering case. Besides, she didn’t reveal details of the gifts she received from Chandrashekhar.
The probe agency had filed a second supplementary charge-sheet against the Bollywood actor in connection with over INR 200 crore money-laundering cases under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) involving Sukesh Chandrashekhar.
The charge-sheet cited- “Fernandez cooked-up false stories to wriggle out of the on-going investigation. She was also silent as to how the proceeds of the crime reached her house. The explanation given by her (Fernandez) about having no knowledge of the criminal antecedents of Chandrashekhar is false and contrary to the evidence collected during the course of investigation.”
During the probe, the investigating agency discovered that the conman Chandrashekhar met Fernandez through her make-up artiste Shaan Muthalik. Chandrashekhar had reportedly claimed to be a senior official in the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, and connected to the family of late Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa. Chandrashekhar also claimed to be the owner of Sun TV (a Tamil-language based entertainment channel).
It was reported that Fernandez and her family were bestowed with classy gifts. Chandrashekhar had also arranged charter flights for them and had paid for the hotel expenses as well.
Columnist and author Advaita Kala in her recorded statement during the probe stated, “Fernandez approached her for the writing work of a web series. Kala was paid INR 17 lakh initially. Fernandez had sent a man to her home for the delivery of the cash payment.”
She further mentioned, “I received a call from someone who introduced himself as the chairman of DLF and said that he was calling on behalf of Fernandez. The person said he would send a man to her home. A few days later, a man visited Kala and said that he was sent by DLF and gave her INR 15 lakh in cash.”
Earlier, Fernandez, in her statement on August 30, 2021 cited that she had only sent chocolates and flowers to Kala that contradicted her own statement that she had presented before the probe agency on October 20, 2021 stating Chandrashekar had delivered INR 15 lakh at the house of Kala.”
The scenario took-a-twist when Chandrashekhar in his statement said that he paid INR 15 lakh on Fernandez’s request and later he also gave expensive gifts to Fernandez. She was also silent on the role played by Pinky Irani, who contacted her make-up artiste and introduced her to Chandrashekhar.
The Enforcement Directorate had also disclosed that Chandrashekhar had planned to buy a couple of houses for Fernandez and her family, one at Juhu in Mumbai, another in Sri Lanka and the third one for Fernandez’s parents in Bahrain.
The conman Sukesh Chandrashekhar between a period of June 2020 till May 2021 with the use of certain mobile applications and through voice modulation softwares, made several calls to Aditi Singh, wife of former Ranbaxy owner Shivendra Singh, who is currently behind the bars.
Sukesh, posed himself as an officer – sometimes as Law Secretary, Home Secretary, representative of Home Minister Amit Shah, and at times turned himself as a representative of the Prime Minister’s Office — extorted INR 215 crore from Singh on the pretext of helping her husband in getting him out of jail.
