ED attaches Jacqueline Fernandez's assets worth Rs 7.27 cr in Sukesh Chandrashekhar case

In the latest development, the Enforcement Directorate has attached the assets of actor Jacqueline Fernandez over her links with alleged conman Sukesh Chandrashekhar. The Sri Lankan national had landed in a soup after information emerged that she received gifts worth crores from the alleged scamster who is currently in jail.

Intimate pictures of them had also gone viral before, after which the Kick star had requested media to not circulate them.

ED issues statement 

​​Enforcement Directorate(ED) has provisionally attached assets amounting to Rs. 7.27 Crore including Fixed deposits worth Rs. 7.12 Crore of Jacqueline Fernandez under Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002 in the case of Sukesh Chandrasekhar.

Investigation by ED revealed that a person was contacting people spoofing calls to dupe them as the numbers reflecting on their phone were from Government officers and he claimed to be a Government officer offering to help people for a price. Adopting thus, modus operandi, said person contacted Aditi Singh w/o Shivinder Mohan Singh by impersonating himself as Union Home Secretary, Union Law Secretary, officer from Prime Minister Officeand junior officials and extorted more than Rs. 200 Crore from her over a period of 1 year on the pretext of contribution to party funds.

​​Investigation revealed that the said person was conman Sukesh Chandrasekhar who was running his illegal extortion business from Central Jail, Delhi in connivance with Jail officials.

During investigation, searches were conducted under PMLA at various premises all over India   and properties seized viz. Bungalow in Chennai, 26 Cars, Indian currency, valuables etc valued at Rs. 45 Crore appx.  

In this case, the accused Sukesh Chandrasekhar and 8 other persons including his wife Leena Maria Paul were arrested under PMLA and subsequently prosecution complaint has been filed before the Special PMLA Court, Patiala House Court against all 9 accused and cognizance has been taken by the Court.

During investigation, it was revealed that Sukesh Chandrasekhar had given various gifts worth Rs. 5.71 Crore to Jacqueline Fernandez from the proceeds of crime generated by criminal activities including extortion. Sukesh Chandrasekhar had put Pinky Irani, his long time associate and co-accused in this case to deliver the said gifts to her. In addition to these gifts, Sukesh Chandrasekhar had also given funds to the tune of USD 172913 and AUD 26740 to the close family members of Jacqueline Fernandez out of the proceeds of crime through co-accused Avtar Singh Kochhar, an established and well known international hawala operator.

Sukesh Chandrasekhar had also delivered cash to the tune of Rs. 15 Lacs to a script writer on behalf of Ms. Jacqueline Fernandez as advance for writing a script of her webseries project. This cash amount has also been attached.

Investigation with regards to tracing the remaining Proceeds of Crime is in progress.

Jacqueline Fernandez's assets worth Rs 7.27 crore attached by ED

As per the latest development, assets worth Rs 7.27 crore have been attached by the ED. Out of the Rs 7.27 crore, Rs 5.71 crore were gifted by Sukesh Chandrashekhar. Rs 7.12 crore of this amount was maintained in fixed deposits.  

The list of gifts she received from Sukesh Chandrashekhar had also emerged previously in the investigation. This includes 3 designer bags of brands Gucci and Louis Vuitton, multiple Diamond jewellery set, 2 hermes  braclets and 1 horse worth Rs 52 lakh.

In her statement to ED, she said, "I knew him as the owner of Sun Tv. He gave several big gifts to my siblings. Gave me a horse and a Mini Cooper car also."

She also said, "I got a phone call which I know now was a fake phone call from MHA. Then Sukesh transferred money into my sister's account."

Jacqueline was questioned by ED in August last year and also in December. She was also stopped from leaving the country at the Mumbai airport in December,

Other actresses of the film industry, like actor Nora Fatehi has been questioned by the ED. The names of Bhumi Pednekar and Sara Ali Khan had also emerged in February. However, the actresses denied any links, and the former denied receiving any gifts, while the latter stated that she had agreed to accept a box of chocolates.

Sukesh Chandrashekhar has been accused of a Rs 200-crore extortion racket from the Rohini jail.

He has been accused of cheating former Fortis Healthcare promoter Shivinder Mohan Singh's wife Aditi Singh. Chandrashekhar and his wife, actor Leena Maria Paul's modus operandi involved using tech applications to imitate government officers to extort money from them.