The Supreme Court refused relief to Bollywood actress Jacqueline Fernandez, dismissing her plea to quash the Rs 200 crore fraud case linked to conman Sukesh Chandrasekhar. Jacqueline claimed she was unaware of his criminal past and was a victim of his scheme, but courts said the trial must proceed.
Jacqueline Fernandez. File pic
The Supreme Court refused to provide any relief to actress Jacqueline Fernandez on Monday. The apex court further dismissed her petition filed in connection with the Rs 200 crore fraud case linked to conman Sukesh Chandrasekhar.
Bollywood actress Jacqueline had challenged the Delhi High Court's order in the Supreme Court. Earlier, on July 3, the Delhi High Court rejected the petition to quash the FIR lodged against her by the ED in a money laundering case, reported by IANS.
As reported by news agency IANS, Jacqueline Fernandez pointed out while filing the plea that the evidence filed by the ED allegedly showed that she is a victim of Sukesh’s targeted attack and not the co-accused.
The plea reportedly also mentioned that the ED itself admitted that Tihar jail officials gave Sukesh access to mobile phones and other electronic devices. The facilities provided by the jail officials to Sukesh Chandrasehkhar were allegedly used to con the original complainant, along with several members of the film fraternity, including Fernandez.
Moreover, the plea further stated that since Bollywood actress Jacqueline Fernandez is a prosecution witness in the predicate offence, any further proceedings against her should logically be quashed.
While responding to her petition, the Delhi High Court stated that “the determination of whether the accused committed a crime or not can only be made during the hearing in the lower court,” as cited by news agency IANS.
Jacqueline Fernandez also claimed that all the charges against her are false and that she had no knowledge of Sukesh's criminal background while filing the quashing petition in the Supreme Court of India.
Earlier the ED had accused Jacqueline of allegedly receiving luxury gifts worth around Rs 7 crore from Sukesh. However, she has consistently said that she was completely unaware of his criminal past.
Previously, the Delhi High Court had also refused to quash the case, claiming that “questions regarding Jacqueline's intent and knowledge of the crime must be examined during the trial of the case,” as per IANS.
The issue got into the limelight when Delhi Police booked Sukesh for allegedly cheating the spouses of former promoters of Ranbaxy, Shivinder Singh and Malvinder Singh, of Rs 200 crore.
(With inputs from IANS)
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