On 17th August 2022, the Enforcement Directorate included Bollywood actress Jacqueline Fernandez as an accused in the Rs 200 crore extortion case against conman Sukesh Chandrashekar. Jacqueline Fernandez was added as an accused by the ED in a supplementary charge sheet filed in a Delhi court. Earlier, the Enforcement Directorate had summoned Jacqueline multiple times in connection with the money laundering investigation to record her statements in the case.
Previously, Chandrashekar was detained by Delhi Police for purportedly swindling about Rs 215 crores from Aditi Singh and Shivendra Singh, relatives of the erstwhile promoters of pharmaceutical company Ranbaxy. The ED launched its money laundering investigation after taking notice of the Delhi Police case.
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— Probo (@probo_india) August 17, 2022
Actor Jacqueline Fernandez named in chargesheet in ₹ 200 crore extortion case linked to conman Sukesh Chandrashekar
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The first charge sheet filed by the ED detailed how Chandrashekar utilized the allegedly swindled money. Its supplemental charge sheet says that Chandrashekar offered Fernandez gifts worth over Rs 5 crores from the money he swindled. It has identified the actress as an accused, stating that she was aware that the gifts were purchased with illicit money.
Sukesh Chandrashekhar was arrested in 2017
In 2017, Delhi Police arrested Sukesh Chandrasekhar for the first time for allegedly duping AIADMK leader of Rs 2 crores on the pretext he would help the politician in retaining the two leaves symbol of the party. He had claimed he would do that by bribing the Election Commission officials. Since then, 34 cases have been filed against Chandrasekhar under charges of attempt to murder, cheating, extortion, bribing public officials, and more.
The ED had filed a charge sheet in Sukesh Chandrasekhar’s case in the court last year. The charge sheet also mentioned the expensive gifts given to Jacqueline Fernandez by the conman. During the interrogation, Sukesh Chandrasekhar confessed to giving the gifts to Jacqueline. The ED estimates that Sukesh Chandrashekhar had given gifts worth Rs 5.71 crore to her. Apart from that, Jacqueline’s relatives were given a hefty sum of US$173,000 and 27,000 Australian dollars as loans.
Expensive gifts are given to Jacqueline Fernandez
In May 2022, the list of gifts given by Sukesh Chandrashekhar to Jacqueline Fernandez came to light. The gifts included three Persian cats each worth rupees 9 lakh, an Arabian horse that costs 52 lakh rupees, a diamond set with 15 pairs of earrings, expensive crockery, designer bags of expensive brands like Gucci and Chanel, two Gucci brand gym outfits, several pairs of Louis Vuitton brand footwear, two Hermes brand bracelets, a Mini Cooper car, and many Rolex brand watches.
Sukesh Chandrasekhar, in his statement to ED last year, had claimed that he had gifted jewellery worth Rs 7 crore to Jacqueline Fernandez. She was also given the BMW X5 car. Sukesh Chandrashekhar had also reportedly gifted a Maserati car to Jacqueline’s parents and a Porsche car from Bahrain to her mother.
Jacqueline Fernandez gave her statement to ED
The ED had recorded Jacqueline’s statements in August and October last year. In the statement, she had admitted to taking gifts and loans from Sukesh during the course of the questioning. Jacqueline had said that the gifts from Sukesh included three designer bags from Gucci and Chanel, two gym outfits from Gucci, pairs of Louis Vuitton shoes, two pairs of diamond coils, a bracelet made of multi-color stone, and two other bracelets from Hermes. The actress had also told the ED that Sukesh had gifted her a Mini Cooper car, but she had returned it. Jacqueline had said that Sukesh had given her sister Geraldine $1.5 million as a loan. Apart from this, she also admitted to transferring Rs 15 lakh to the account of her brother Warren, who is living in Australia.
How did the conman contact the actress?
When conman Sukesh Chandrasekhar messaged Jacqueline Fernandez, she first didn’t reply. Later, he got in touch with the actress via her hairstylist. Sukesh apparently introduced himself as the owner of a jewelry company and a TV network. Additionally, he claimed to be ‘close’ to Amit Shah, the home minister. Jacqueline told the investigators that she was unaware that Sukesh was phoning her from within Tihar jail when she was questioned.
According to reports, the actress said that Sukesh Chandrasekhar had only ever met him twice when he was on parole. The conman, however, maintained regular contact with the actress via video conversations conducted from the office he set up within Tihar jail. Sukesh’s attorney had before made it public that Jacqueline was dating him. The actor’s crew, however, had denied that she had any relation to Sukesh.
The 200 crores extortion and money-laundering case
While jailed as an undertrial, Sukesh Chandrasekhar allegedly extorted 200 crores from the wife of the promoter of Religare enterprises Shivinder Mohan Singh. Pretending to be a senior government official, Sukesh conned Shivinder Singh’s wife Aditi Singh assuring her that he can secure Shivinder’s bail. Sukesh and his wife, actress Leena Maria Paul used hawala routes and shell companies to launder the proceeds of their scam.
Sukesh Chandrasekhar and his wife were then arrested by Enforcement Directorate (ED) under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) over an alleged extortion racket being run from jail. Sukesh was allegedly bribing prison authorities to keep his cons running from the prison. Several Bollywood personalities like Jacqueline Fernandez and Nora Fatehi allegedly kept coming to the prison to meet him during his stay.
