New Delhi: Delhi’s Patiala House court on Friday extended Bollywood actress Jacqueline Fernandez's interim bail till November 15 in connection with the Rs 200 crore extortion case involving multi-millionaire conman Sukesh Chandrashekhar. The decision on her regular bail plea will be announced on November 15.
Earlier on Thursday, the court had reserved order on the bail plea for Friday after hearing arguments from the lawyers appearing for Fernandez as well as the ED.
According to PTI, the court rapped the Enforcement Directorate for adopting a pick-and-choose policy, and asked why the agency had not arrested actor Jacqueline Fernandez despite issuing a lookout circular against her.
On the ED's submission that Fernandez can escape the country easily as she is not short of money, the court questioned why the actor was not arrested so far.
The agency told the court that it has issued a Lookout Circular (LOC) on airports to stop the actor from leaving the country.
"Why haven't you (ED) arrested Jacqueline yet during the investigation despite issuing an LOC? Other accused are in jail. Why adopt a pick-and-choose policy,” the court asked the probe agency, as per PTI
The accused has sought bail, saying there was no need for her custody since the investigation is already complete and the charge sheet has been filed.
The court had on September 26 granted interim bail to the actress on a personal bond of Rs 50,000.
On August 17, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had filed its second supplementary charge sheet in the case naming her as an accused. The ED's earlier charge sheet did not mention her as an accused. The documents, however, had mentioned the details of the statements recorded by Fernandez and fellow actor Nora Fatehi.
There were also reports that Sukesh Chandrasekhar wrote a letter to his lawyer claiming that Jacqueline Fernandez had no involvement in the scam.
Jacqueline’s lawyer Prashant Patil had recently spoken about the letter in a conversation with Times of India, and maintained the actor was innocent and will continue to ‘fight for her dignity’.
"If it is written by Sukesh Chandrasekhar, then the allegations made by him need to be seriously investigated, independently and fairly by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). The contents reveal that the investigation needs to take place on the facts revealed by him. His statement can be recorded under relevant provisions of the law and investigation can be carried out to find out the truth,” Prashant Patil had told ETimes.
Sukesh had written in the letter, “It's very, very unfortunate that Jacqueline has been made an accused in the PMLA (money laundering) case… We were in a relationship and if I have given her and her family gifts, what is their fault… She never asked me for anything except loving her and standing by her...”
Meanwhile, Sukesh Chandrasekhar has also written a series of letter to Delhi LG VK Saxena, where he has levelled various allegations against AAP leaders.
(With inputs from PTI)