Jacqueline Fernandez granted interim bail in Rs 200 crore scam case

New Delhi, Sept 26: Actor Jacqueline Fernandez on Monday was granted interim bail on a bond of Rs 50,000 in Delhi's Patiala House Court. She had appeared at the court as an accused in connection with a Rs 200 crore extortion case linked to alleged conman Sukesh Chandrashekhar.

 

 

Jacqueline was questioned by Delhi Police's Economic Offences Wing (EOW) last week about the money trail of the gifts given by Sukesh Chandrashekhar and the diversion of funds.

 

She also gave Delhi Police a list of items that she had received from Sukesh, which allegedly were bought from the money he had extorted from Aditi Singh, the wife of jailed former Ranbaxy owner Shivinder Singh.

 

 

Earlier on September 14, Jacqueline appeared before the EOW of Delhi Police in connection with the case. She was confronted with Pinky Irani, who appeared to have introduced the actor to Sukesh.

 

The Enforcement Directorate chargesheet stated that actor Jacqueline knew about Sukesh's involvement in criminal cases but she chose to overlook his criminal past and got involved in financial transactions with him. ED had registered a money laundering case in the alleged scam over the FIR registered by the Delhi Police.

 

The agency had earlier stated that Fernandez's statements were recorded on August 30 and October 20, 2021, where she admitted to having received gifts from Chandrashekar. It also said that Fernandez had used proceeds of crime and bought valuable gifts for herself and her family members in India as well as abroad which amounts to an offence of money laundering under section 3 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act 2002.

 

Sukesh Chandrashekhar, a native of Bengaluru in Karnataka, is currently lodged in a Delhi jail and faces over 10 criminal cases registered against him.

Chandrashekhar has been accused of extorting ₹200 crore when he was lodged in Rohini jail, from Aditi Singh, the wife of jailed former Ranbaxy owner Shivinder Singh, while posing as an official from the union law ministry and the PMO, on the pretext of getting her husband out on bail.