Guwahati: Actress Jacqueline Fernandez appeared in front of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday for a new round of interrogation and to record a statement in a case involving money laundering involving Sukesh Chandrashekhar and others.
The agency had temporarily attached the Bollywood actor’s cash in April for a total of Rs 7.27 crore in accordance with the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The agency had previously questioned the 36-year-old actor in the aforementioned case two or three times.
The actor was given a new summons on Monday for the recording of her statement as the agency continues to track down the remaining proceeds of crime in this investigation, according to officials.
The agency labelled these monies as “proceeds of crime,” therefore a preliminary order was filed against her for attaching fixed deposits worth Rs. 7.12 crore and cash worth Rs. 15 lakh.
Sukesh Chandrasekhar gave Jacqueline Fernandez a number of presents totalling Rs. 5.71 crore from the profits of crime which included extortion. The ED had subsequently stated in a statement, “Chandrasekhar had put Pinky Irani, his long-time associate and co-accused in this case, to deliver the aforementioned presents to her.”
It also claimed that Chandrasekhar gave Fernandez’s immediate family “funds to the tune of USD 1,72,913 (about Rs 1.3 crore as per current exchange rate) and AUD 26740 (approximately Rs 14 lakh) out of the proceeds of crime through co-accused Avtar Singh Kochhar, an established and well-known international hawala operator.” Chandrasekhar “gave payment to the tune of Rs 15 lakh to a screenplay writer on behalf of Fernandez as advance for writing a script of her web series project,” the agency claimed after an investigation. Sri Lankan-born Fernandez made her film début in the Hindi-language industry in 2009.
Chandrashekhar is accused by the ED of extorting money from prominent individual 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 reported that after looking into the matter, it discovered that a person “was contacting people by spoofing calls to fool them as the numbers reflected on their phones were from government authorities and he claimed to be a government officer offering to help people for a payment.” Using this method, the accused approached Aditi Singh, the wife of Shivinder Mohan Singh, by posing as the Union home secretary, Union law secretary, a PMO officer, and other junior officials. Under the guise of a contribution to party funds, he extorted more than Rs 200 crore from her over the course of a year. The ED stated: “The said guy was conman Sukesh Chandrasekhar who was operating his illegal extortion business from Delhi’s Tihar Central Jail in connivance with jail officials.”
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. Fernandez added that she returned a Mini Cooper automobile that she had received similarly.
Chandrashekhar was in “frequent contact” with Fernandez from February until his arrest on August 7 of last year, the agency’s investigation revealed (by the Delhi Police).
Eight people have been detained by the ED so far in this matter, including Irani, Chandrshekhar, his wife Leena Maria Paul, and other individuals. The ED has also filed two charge sheets with a Delhi court.