Court seeks ED’s response on Jacqueline Fernandez’s plea to turn approver

A Delhi court on Friday sought a response from the Enforcement Directorate on a plea by actor Jacqueline Fernandez seeking to turn approver in a Rs 200 crore money laundering case involving alleged conman Sukesh Chandrashekar.

Special Judge Prashant Sharma issued notice to the agency and posted the matter for further proceedings on April 20. Fernandez, who was summoned by the ED several times in connection with the investigation, was named as an accused for the first time in a supplementary charge sheet filed by the agency. On July 3, last year, the Delhi High Court dismissed her petition for quashing the Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) in the money laundering case.

Two months later, the Supreme Court refused to interfere with the High Court’s order. Delhi Police had booked Chandrasekhar for allegedly duping the spouses of former promoters of Ranbaxy, Shivinder Singh and Malvinder Singh, of Rs 200 crore. There are other ongoing investigations against him in several cases across the country.

Chandrasekhar and his wife, Leena Paulose, facing proceedings in a money laundering case, were arrested by the Delhi Police along with others.

The police invoked the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) in the case.  Paulose and Chandrasekhar were alleged to have used ‘hawala’ routes and created shell companies along with other accused persons to park the money earned as proceeds of crime.