A Delhi court on Saturday ordered charges to be filed against actor Jacqueline Fernandez, alleged conman Sukesh Chandrashekar, and 15 others in a 200-crore rupee money laundering case. Additional Sessions Judge Prashant Sharma said there is enough evidence to strongly suspect all the accused.
The accused will be charged under Section 3 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, which is punishable under Section 4. All the accused have been called to court on June 3 for the formal filing of charges, after which the trial will begin. J
acqueline, who was questioned several times by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), was named as an accused for the first time in a supplementary chargesheet. The ED said in its second supplementary complaint that Jacqueline
was in regular contact with Sukesh and received expensive gifts from him through Pinky Irani.
Earlier this month, the court allowed Jacqueline to withdraw her request to become an approver in the case. The ED opposed her request, saying she stayed in contact with Sukesh even after knowing about his criminal background. The agency said Jacqueline kept in regular contact with Sukesh, who arranged all the benefits and gifts for her using money from the crime. The ED said her ongoing communication and acceptance of gifts showed she was not an ‘unwitting victim’ as she claimed, but was knowingly involved with the main accused. According to the ED, Jacqueline used the proceeds of crime for herself and her family, ignoring where the money came from and actively taking part in the laundering process.
The ED said her claim of being a victim is self-serving and goes against the evidence. Sukesh was first arrested by Delhi Police in 2017 and then by the ED in 2021. The prosecution says Sukesh was running a criminal network from jail and pretending to be senior government officials, including those from the Prime Minister’s Office, Ministry of Home Affairs, and Ministry of Law and Justice.
Other accused include Sukesh’s wife Leena Maria Paul, Deepak Ramnani, Pradeep Ramdanee, B Mohanraj, Arun Muthu, D Kamlesh Kothari, Pinky Irani, Pooja Singh, Dharam Singh Meena, Mahender Prasad Sundriyal, Sunder Bora, Komal Poddar, Jitender Narula, Avinash Kumar, and Jai Prakash Singhal.
The accused allegedly used fake calls, encrypted apps, and false identities to trick Aditi Singh and her family into giving them large amounts of money. The prosecution says Sukesh got over 200 crore rupees through extortion, cheating, impersonation, and threats, and then hid, transferred, and used the money as if it was legal with help from his associates.
The money was used to buy property, luxury cars, and expensive gifts. The ED said the money was moved through different bank accounts, hawala channels, cash deliveries, and shell companies. During the investigation, searches were done at several places, evidence was collected, and statements from the accused and witnesses were recorded. Digital evidence like mobile phones, WhatsApp chats, Telegram messages, fake call records, forensic reports, bank transactions, and cash movement details were also collected.
Delhi Police arrested Sukesh in 2017 for allegedly taking a bribe from then AIADMK leader T T V Dhinakaran to get a favourable verdict from the Election Commission in the ‘two leaves’ party symbol case.
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