New Delhi: Jacqueline Fernandez on Wednesday appeared before the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Delhi Police in connection with the Rs 200 crore extortion case filed against alleged conman Sukesh Chandrashekhar. The actress was questioned for eight hours. The questioning started at 11:30 AM and ended at around 8:30 PM.
According to ANI, Delhi Police had prepared a questionnaire of 100 questions. The questions were reportedly based on her relationship with Sukesh and the gifts she got from him, regarding how many times she had met or contacted Sukesh over the phone during that period.
Apart from Jacqueline, Pinky Irani also appeared for questioning on Wednesday. Irani reportedly introduced Jacqueline Fernandez to Sukesh Chandrashekhar.
Ravindra Yadav, Spl CP, Crime/EoW told ANI that Jacqueline and Pinky both will be called again for questioning.
Nora Fatehi, who had earlier recorded her testimony in the first week of September, has been called again tomorrow (September 15).
Jacqueline was earlier summoned on September 12 but the actress requested to postpone her questioning as she had some pre-scheduled shoots.
Earlier, Delhi's Patiala House Court had also summoned Jacqueline directing her to appear in court on September 26. The court took cognizance of the supplementary chargesheet filed in the case that named the actress as an accused.
The Enforcement Directorate had named Jacqueline Fernandez as accused in the supplementary chargesheet as a beneficiary of the extortion money. The chargesheet reportedly mentions that the actor was aware that Sukesh Chandrashekhar was a criminal and an extortionist.
Jacqueline was summoned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with the money laundering case. In June, Jacqueline appeared at the ED headquarters, following the summons to record her statement. She told ED that she met Chandrashekhar in 2017.
In her reply to the authorities of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act who have attached several of her Fixed Deposits (FDs), the actress maintained that her FDs are from her ‘own legitimate of income’ and have no connection to conman Sukesh Chandrasekhar and were created even before the conman ‘existed’. Her investments were attached by the authority after Jacqueline’s name emerged in the 200-crore money laundering case involving Sukesh Chandrasekhar.
Jacqueline also accused ED of malafide and said that Nora Fatehi and other celebrities who received gifts from the main accused Sukesh Chandrashekhar are made witnesses whereas she is sought to be dragged as an accused.
“What is surprising is that like the respondent (Jacqueline), some other celebrities, notably Norah Fatehi was also conned by Chandrasekhar and Fatehi and other such celebrities who received gifts from the accused, are made witnesses whereas she is sought to be dragged as an accused. This clearly shows a malafide, motivated and biased approach on the part of investigation authority which cannot be ignored,” Hindustan Times quoted her reply to PMLA.
The actress also claimed that Chandrasekhar insisted on showering her with gifts despite her repeated refusals.
Chandrashekhar was arrested for allegedly defrauding and extorting several high-profile individuals, including Aditi Singh, the wife of former Fortis Healthcare promoter Shivinder Mohan Singh.
In April last year Chandrashekhar was arrested in another money laundering case linked to the 2017 Election Commission bribery case, which allegedly involved a former AIADMK leader among others.