ED names Jacqueline as accused in money-laundering case involving conman Sukesh

The Enforcement Directorate ED on Wednesday filed a charge sheet naming Bollywood actor Jacqueline Fernandez as an accused in a multicrore money laundering case linked to alleged conman Sukesh Chandrashekhar and others official sources saidThe federal probe agency filed the fresh second supplementary charge sheet or prosecution complaint in this case on Wednesday before a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act PMLA court in Delhi and according to sources the actor has been arraigned in it as an accusedShe is the only accused named in the latest charge sheet they saidThe court will take up the charge sheet for taking cognisance on August 31The 37yearold actor has been questioned multiple times by the agency in this case the last being in JuneAlso Read Itll all be ok Jacqueline Fernandez shares motivational quote on social media amid ED troubleThe actor a Sri Lanka national debuted in the Hindi film industry in 2009The ED in April provisionally attached Rs 727 crore funds of the actor under the PMLA apart from Rs 15 lakh in cash as the agency called these funds as proceeds of crimeSukesh Chandrashekhar had given various gifts worth Rs 571 crore to Jacqueline Fernandez from the proceeds of crime generated by criminal activities including extortion the ED had then said in a statementChandrasekhar had put Pinky Irani his longtime associate and coaccused in this case to deliver the said gifts to her the ED had saidIn addition to these gifts it said Chandrashekhar also gave funds to the tune of USD 172913 about Rs 13 crore as per current exchange rate and AUD 26740 approx Rs 14 lakh to the close family members of Fernandez out of the proceeds of crime through coaccused Avtar Singh Kochhar an established and well known international hawala operatorThe agency said its probe found that Chandrashekhar had delivered cash to the tune of Rs 15 lakh to a writer on behalf of Fernandez as advance for writing a script of her web series projectThe ED has alleged that Chandrashekhar used illegal money to purchase gifts for Fernandez which he had extorted by cheating highprofile people including former Fortis Healthcare promoter Shivinder Mohan Singhs wife Aditi SinghHe is alleged to have conned Aditi Singh and her sister by impersonating as the Union home secretary and also as the Law secretary over phoneThe ED said its investigation found that a person was contacting people spoofing calls to dupe them as the numbers reflecting on their phone were from government officers and he claimed to be a government officer offering to help people for a priceAdopting this modus operandi the said person contacted Aditi Singh wife of Shivinder Mohan Singh by impersonating himself as Union home secretary Union law secretary officer from prime ministers office PMO and other junior officials and extorted more than Rs 200 crore from her over a period of one year on the pretext of contribution to party fundsThe said person was conman Sukesh Chandrashekhar who was running his illegal extortion business from central jail in Delhi Tihar jail in connivance with jail officials the ED saidThe actor told the ED in her statement recorded in August and October last year that she received gifts like three designer bags from Gucci Chanel two Gucci outfits for gym wear a pair of Louis Vuitton shoes two pairs of diamond earrings and a bracelet of multicoloured stones and two Hermes bracelets from ChandrashekharFernandez further said she returned a Mini Cooper car which she had similarly receivedThe agency found in its probe that Chandrashekhar was in regular contact with Fernandez from February until he was arrested on August 7 last year by the Delhi PoliceThe ED has arrested eight people in this case till now including Chandrshekhar his wife Leena Maria Paul Pinky Irani and has also filed two charge sheets before a Delhi courtThis 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