NEW DELHI: A Delhi court on Friday sought a response from Enforcement Directorate (ED) on a plea by actor Jacqueline Fernandez seeking to turn approver in a Rs 200-crore money laundering case involving alleged conman Sukesh Chandrashekhar.Special judge Prashant Sharma issued the notice to the agency and listed the matter for hearing on April 20. The development comes amid proceedings in the high-profile case, where Fernandez was named as an accused for the first time in a supplementary chargesheet filed by ED.
The actor had earlier challenged the Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) before Delhi High Court, which dismissed her petition on July 3 last year.Subsequently, Supreme Court also declined to interfere with the high court’s order, effectively allowing the investigation to proceed.Fernandez was summoned multiple times by ED during the probe. The case stems from allegations that Chandrashekhar duped the wives of former Ranbaxy promoters, Shivinder Singh and Malvinder Singh, of approximately Rs 200 crore.According to investigators, Chandrashekhar, along with his wife Leena Paulose and other accused, routed the proceeds of crime through hawala channels and parked the funds using a network of shell companies. Both Chandrashekhar and Paulose were arrested by Delhi Police, which invoked provisions of Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) in the case.ED has alleged that Fernandez received gifts worth up to Rs 7 crore from Chandrashekhar. It claimed that she may have been aware of his criminal background, an allegation she has denied, maintaining that she had no involvement and was unaware of any illicit source of funds.Apart from this case, Chandrashekhar is facing multiple investigations across the country in connection with similar allegations.On April 7, another Delhi court acquitted him in a 2017 money laundering case related to the AIADMK “two leaves” election symbol bribery scandal.
