The Delhi high court on Thursday refused to quash the Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) and supplementary charge sheet filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) against Bollywood actress Jacqueline Fernandez in a ₹200-crore money laundering case involving alleged conman Sukesh Chandrashekhar.
“The petition is dismissed,” justice Anish Dayal said while pronouncing the verdict. A detailed copy of the judgement is awaited.
The ED case stems from the extortion case filed by the economic offences wing (EOW) of Delhi Police in August 2022 against Chandrasekhar for allegedly cheating and extorting money from Aditi Singh, the wife of Shivinder Mohan Singh, a former promoter of Religare Enterprises, by posing as the Union law secretary and calling her with an offer to bail her jailed husband.
The alleged con job is being probed differently by the ED and EOW. While the EOW is probing allegations of fraud and corruption inside the jail, the ED is investigating the money laundering charges. The ED had named Fernandez as a co-accused in the case.
In her plea, the actress sought for quashing the ECIR dated August 8, 2021, the second supplementary complaint dated August 17, 2022, and the subsequent proceedings, asserting that the probe agency’s evidence proved that she was an innocent victim of Chandrashekhar’s maliciously targeted attack.
It went on to add that she was made a witness in the EOW case and ED’s entire case hinged on her awareness of Chandrashekhar’s criminal background, based on a newspaper article.
The ED, represented by special counsel Zoheb Hossain, submitted that their case was separate and distinct from the EOW case and her being a witness in the EOW case could offer no relief.
In 2022, a trial court had granted Fernandez bail in the ED case, subject to her furnishing a personal bond of ₹2 lakh and one surety of the same amount.