Jacqueline Fernandez, Sukesh Chandrasekhar & Others To Face Charges In 200cr Money Laundering Case

A Delhi court on Saturday ordered framing of charges against actor Jacqueline Fernandez, alleged conman Sukesh Chandrashekar and 15 others in a Rs 200-crore money laundering case. Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Prashant Sharma said that "prima facie, there is sufficient material on record based upon which a strong suspicion is raised against all the accused". The accused persons "have to be charged with the offence (of money laundering) under Section 3 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), punishable under Section 4 of the PMLA," the ASJ said.

All the accused have been summoned on June 3 for formal framing of charges, following which the trial in the case will commence. Jacqueline, whom the Enforcement Directorate (ED) summoned several times in connection with the probe, was named as an accused for the first time in a supplementary chargesheet filed by the agency. The ED alleged in its second supplementary complaint against Jacqueline that she was in constant touch with Sukesh and had received valuable gifts from him through Pinky Irani. Earlier this month, the court had allowed Jacqueline to withdraw her plea filed on April 16 seeking to turn approver in the case.

The ED had opposed Jacqueline's plea, saying she remained in contact with the accused (Sukesh) despite knowing his criminal antecedents. The federal agency, in its response to the actor's plea, said, "The applicant (Jacqueline) remained in regular and sustained contact with Sukesh Chandrashekar (accused 1) even after having knowledge of his criminal antecedents, who carefully arranged all benefits, gifts and articles for the applicant out of the 'proceeds of crime' involved in the offence of money laundering." It had said that the consistent interaction through numerous ways of communication and receipt of benefits negated any claim of being an "unwitting victim" as claimed by Jacqueline, and instead highlighted her conscious association with the main perpetrator.

According to the agency, the actor used and enjoyed the proceeds of crime for herself and her family members, demonstrating a conscious disregard for the source of funds while actively participating in the laundering process. "Her claim of being a victim is therefore self-serving and contrary to the evidence on record," it had said. Sukesh was first arrested by Delhi Police in 2017, and then by the ED in 2021. According to the prosecution, Sukash was running an organised criminal network from inside jail and was impersonating senior government officials, including those from the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), Ministry of Home Affairs, and the Ministry of Law and Justice. Besides Sukesh and Jacqueline, the other accused include his wife Leena Maria Paul alias Leena Paulose, Deepak Ramnani, Pradeep Ramdanee, B Mohanraj, Arun Muthu, D Kamlesh Kothari, and Pinky Irani. The other accused are Pooja Singh, Dharam Singh Meena, Mahender Prasad Sundriyal, Sunder Bora, Komal Poddar, Jitender Narula, Avinash Kumar and Jai Prakash Singhal.

It is alleged that by using spoofed calls, encrypted applications and fabricated identities, the accused induced complainant Aditi Singh and her family members to part with huge sums of money. The prosecution alleged that Sukesh generated proceeds of crime amounting to more than Rs 200 crore through extortion, cheating, impersonation and criminal intimidation, and thereafter concealed, possessed, transferred, layered and projected the same as untainted property with the help of his associates. It also claimed that the proceeds of crime were used to purchase property, high-end luxury vehicles, expensive and luxurious gifts, etc.

The ED alleged that according to its probe, the proceeds of crime were routed through various bank accounts, hawala channels, cash deliveries and shell entities. During the investigation, searches were conducted at several places, various incriminating material were collected, and statements of the accused and several witnesses were recorded, the ED said.

It said that digital evidence, including mobile phones, WhatsApp chats, Telegram communications, spoofed call records, forensic extraction reports, banking transactions and cash movement details were also collected. Delhi Police arrested Sukesh in 2017 for allegedly taking a bribe from then AIADMK leader T T V Dhinakaran for getting a favourable verdict from the Election Commission in the 'two leaves' party symbol case.