New Delhi: In a setback to Bollywood actor Jacqueline Fernandez, Delhi High Court on Thursday dismissed her plea to end criminal proceedings in a Rs 200-crore money laundering case involving Sukesh Chandrasekhar, currently imprisoned for fraud.Justice Anish Dayal dismissed the plea that also sought to quash the chargesheet by the Enforcement Directorate and proceedings pending before the special court under the stringent Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) against her and others.A copy of the detailed judgment is awaited.Fernandez had challenged ED’s case against her over allegations she received lavish gifts from Chandrasekhar and was part of alleged money laundering. She appeared before ED for questioning in the investigation launched after Delhi Police booked Chandrasekhar for extortion and cheating Aditi Singh, wife of former Ranbaxy promoter Shivinder Singh, of Rs 200 crore. While police investigated Chandrasekhar’s activities of alleged extortion and fraud from inside jail, ED named Fernandez as an accused in the money laundering probe.In her defence, the actor contended that if as per ED’s claims, money was distributed among other individuals too, then everyone involved, be it a grocery vendor, court officials or lawyers, could be deemed guilty of money laundering. She questioned the premise that any financial transaction involving a criminal automatically constitutes money laundering, suggesting such an interpretation would create undue fear.The actor said that she was an innocent victim of Chandrasekhar’s “maliciously targeted attack”. “There is absolutely no indication she had any involvement whatsoever in aiding him to launder his purportedly ill-gotten wealth. Hence, she cannot be prosecuted for the offences under sections 3 and 4 of PMLA,” her plea said.However, ED opposed any relief, submitting Fernandez continued to enjoy Chandrasekhar’s gifts despite being aware of his criminal antecedents. The agency also pointed out a special court took cognisance of the prosecution complaint (chargesheet) and prima facie found a case. The cognisance order was not challenged, ED said, adding there are other ongoing investigations against Chandrasekhar across the country.Chandrasekhar and his wife Leena Paulose, facing proceedings in a money laundering case of ED, were arrested by Delhi Police, which invoked MCOCA. The duo allegedly used hawala routes and created shell companies along with other accused persons to park the money earned as proceeds of the crime.
