ED arrests Sukesh Chandrasekhar's aide; grills Jacqueline Fernandez again

The Enforcement Directorate ED on Thursday arrested an associate of alleged conman Sukesh Chandrashekhar in a money laundering case and questioned actor Jacqueline Fernandez for the second consecutive day in connection with the probe into it officials saidPinky Irani was arrested under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act PMLA According to officials Ms Irani was allegedly not cooperating and hence was taken into custodyThe probe agency had earlier arrested Mr Chandrashekhar his actor wife Leena Maria Paul and two associatesMeanwhile the agency continued to record the statement of 36yearold FernandezThe actor had spent about eight hours at the agencys office on Wednesday as she was questioned and her statement recorded in multiple sessions under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act PMLAMs Fernandez has been grilled by the ED at least twice early this year in this case during which she was also confronted with Mr ChandrashekharThe agency suspects she is a beneficiary of the proceeds of crime allegedly generated by Mr Chandrashekhar by conning and extorting money from some highprofile peopleA spokesperson for the actor had earlier said she was testifying before the agency as a witnessJacqueline Fernandez is being called to testify as a witness by the ED She has duly recorded her statements and in future will also be completely cooperating with the agency in the investigations Jacqueline also categorically denies alleged slanderous statements made about relationship with the involved couple the spokesperson had said in a statement in OctoberOn December 5 The ED had stopped Ms Fernandez at the Mumbai airport and barred her from flying abroad It asked her to remain in the country as she may be required to join the probeThe Sri Lankanorigin actor has been questioned by the ED in multiple sessions in connection with the probe into the over 200crore money laundering case against Mr Chandrashekhar and his wifeThe agency had last week filed a charge sheet before a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act PMLA court and named the couple and six othersIt had alleged in the charge sheet that Mr Chandrashekhar claimed that he gifted Ms Fernandez numerous costly gifts including some Persian cats and a horseThe actor is being questioned to corroborate these claims of Mr Chandrashekhar and to find if she was a beneficiary of the laundered money and to establish her role in this money trailAnother Bollywood actordancer Nora Fatehi has also been grilled by the ED in this caseMr Chandrashekhar is accused of cheating some rich people including former Fortis Healthcare promoter Shivinder Mohan Singhs wife Aditi SinghInvestigations found that Mr Chandrashekhar while being lodged in the Rohini jail in Dehi allegedly ran an extortion racket using phone spoofing technology according to officials The ED had arrested the couple and two coaccused Pradeep Ramnani and Deepak Ramnani in this caseIn August the agency raided some of Mr Chandrashekhars premises and seized a seafacing bungalow in Chennai 825 lakh in cash and over a dozen luxury carsIt had claimed in a statement that Mr Chandrashekhar is a known conman and is being probed by the Delhi Police in a case of alleged criminal conspiracy cheating and extortion to the tune of about 200 croreAlso read ED summons Jacqueline Fernandez again on December 9Chandrasekhar is the mastermind of this fraud He has been part of the crime world since the age of 17 He has multiple FIRs against him the ED had saidDespite being in the jail it said Mr Chandrashekhar did not stop conning peopleHe using a cellphone procured illegally in prison with the help of technology made spoofed calls to dupe people as the numbers displayed on the called partys phone number belonged to senior government officers the ED had claimedWhile speaking from prison to these persons he claimed to be a government officer offering to help people for a price it claimedMr Chandrasekhar and Ms Paul were also arrested by the Delhi PoliceThe police recently invoked the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act in the case The Delhi Police had alleged that Ms Paul and Mr Chandrashekhar along with others used hawala routes created shell companies to park the money earned from proceeds of crimeThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever