Money laundering case: SC to hear Jacqueline Fernandez’s plea today
The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on Thursday a plea of Bollywood actor Jacqueline Fernandez against a Delhi court order to frame charges against her in a Rs 200-crore money laundering case.
According to the apex court cause list, a bench of justices BV Nagarathna and Joymalya Bagchi is likely to hear the matter.
Earlier, on June 11, Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra had recused himself from hearing the actor’s plea.
A Delhi court, on May 30, ordered framing of charges against the actor, alleged conman Sukesh Chandrashekhar and 15 others in the case.
The trial court had also directed that charges be framed against Chandrashekar and 20 others for various offences, including under the stringent MCOCA provisions, in another case registered by the city police’s special cell.
The actor moved the top court against the order. Jacqueline, whom the ED summoned several times in connection with the probe, was named an accused for the first time in a supplementary charge sheet filed by the agency.
The ED alleged in its second supplementary complaint against Jacqueline that she was in constant touch with Chandrashekhar and had received valuable gifts from him through his associate Pinky Irani.
According to the prosecution, Chandrashekhar was running an organised criminal network from inside jail and was impersonating senior government officials, including those from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), the Ministry of Home Affairs, and the Ministry of Law and Justice.
It claimed 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.
