Mumbai: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday summoned Bollywood actor Jacqueline Fernandez in a Rs 200-crore money laundering case involving conman Sukesh Chandrashekhar.
The probe agency had asked her to appear before its officials around 11 am.
Sources told Times Now that new evidence had been gathered and the probe agency claimed that the actor was aware of the extortion racket run by Sukesh.
The 38-year-old Sri Lankan-origin actor had been quizzed by the probe agency multiple times in the case. Conman Sukesh, who is presently lodged in the Tihar jail, has been accused of cheating high-profile people, including the wives of former Ranbaxy promoters—Shivinder Singh and Malvinder Singh—to the tune of Rs 200 crore.
According to news reports, the probe agency had alleged that Sukesh had duped the wives of the Singh brothers and used these “proceeds of crime” or illegal money to purchase gifts for the actor. A chargesheet was filed in the case in 2022. The ED has stated in the chargesheet that the actor was “enjoying valuables, jewellery and costly gifts provided by Chandrashekhar despite knowing about his criminal antecedents.”
Maintaining she was innocent, Jacqueline claimed that she had no knowledge of Sukesh’s alleged criminal activities.
‘Sukesh sent messages to Jacqueline from jail’
The India Today news channel in a report last year alleged that the conman sent messages to the actor via WhatsApp from Tihar jail. The actor had also approached a Delhi court claiming that such messages could be a threat to her safety. The report claimed that, in these messages Sukesh had asked the actor to wear a black dress for their ‘court date’ and stated that he had fixed a big budget film for her. Some of the messages mentioned that she shouldn’t shy away from him and throw him away. The report further claimed that Sukesh was using an international number for messaging Jacquline, a key witness in the case. The alleged messages were flashed by the India Today news channel in an exclusive report, which also claimed that the actor never replied to these messages. The actor’s lawyer, Prashant Patil, in an interview to India Today , said that these messages were extremely concerning and reflected a complete failure of the jail authorities.
Have paid crores of rupees to enhance Jacqueline’s social media followers: Sukesh
Last year, Sukhesh had also come up with an open letter claiming that the messages were not sent by him, requesting CBI probe into the alleged fake messages. He sought strict action against those who had created the messages in his name and directed his legal team to lodge a complaint with the CBI.
The report claimed Sukesh had also sought investigation claiming that the probe against Jacquline was biased. He alleged that he had paid crores of rupees to an even management company to enhance the followers of the actor on social media so that she could compete with her rivals, the report claimed.
Accepted gifts, including Persian cat & Arabian horse, worth Rs 35 crore from Sukesh: ED chargesheet
In its chargesheet, the ED had stated that the actor had received gifts worth Rs 35 crore from the accused. The ED chargesheet had listed expensive gifts, such as a Persian cat and Arabian horse, the actor allegedly got from Sukesh over the years.
The actor denied these charges and sought quashing of a money laundering case registered against her by the ED involving Sukesh.
According to the Live Law, in her plea moved through Advocates Prashant Patil and Aman Nandrajog, the actor has sought quashing of Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) as well as the second supplementary complaint against her. The proceedings in the plea are pending.
Actor can’t go out of the country
The actor has been barred from travelling outside the country as she is being probed in the money laundering case. There is an active Look Out Circular against her. In 2021, she was even detained at Mumbai International Airport. In 2022, ED had attached assets, including fixed deposits, worth Rs 7.27 crore of the actor.
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