ED says Jacqueline Fernandez knew of Sukesh Chandrashekhar’s criminal past yet enjoyed gifts; Report

The Enforcement Directorate in its chargesheet said Jacqueline Fernandez was aware of conman Sukesh Chandrashekhar’s criminal history and “cooked up a false story” to wriggle out of investigations in a multi-crore money laundering case. The chargesheet which has been accessed by NDTV claims that Fernandez’s claim that she never knew of Sukesh Chandrashekhar’s cases is false. “Jacqueline Fernandez was well aware about the criminal antecedents of Sukesh Chandrashekhar and also the fact that Leena Maria Paul is his wife in February 2021,” the chargesheet says.

“She consciously chose to overlook his criminal past and continued to indulge in financial transactions with him,” it says. It was her hair stylist Shaan who informed her about the identity and criminal history of Sukesh Chandrashekhar in February 2021. “Despite this, Jacqueline Fernandez ignored the fact and continued the relationship with Sukesh and also received, used and enjoyed the financial benefits from Sukesh, which are nothing but proceeds of crime,” the agency says.

The ED, which is investigating the money trail in a ₹ 200 crore extortion case against the conman, named Jacqueline as an accused earlier this month. The actress admitted to receiving five watches, 65 pairs of shoes, 20 pieces of jewellery, 32 bags, 47 dresses, 4 Hermes bags, nine paintings and one Versace crockery set as gifts from the conman, according to the chargesheet. The agency also said Sukesh Chandrashekhar gifted two cars to Jacqueline’s parents in April 2021, which she did not disclose during her questioning. Only after being confronted with evidence did she admit that Sukesh had bought her a property at Welgana in Sri Lanka.

“Despite being fully aware of his criminal history and that he is lodged in Tihar Jail, Jacqueline Fernendez was knowingly a party or actually involved in the process (money laundering) by using or enjoying the proceeds of crime by the way of valuable gifts,” the agency says. She allegedly also requested her staff to delete data on their phone related to the conman.

The Enforcement Directorate alleges that Jacqueline tried to cover up by constantly stating that she had in fact been a victim of Sukesh. “However, during investigation she has failed to provide any substantial material to establish the victimisation by Sukesh,” the chargesheet says.

She wiped her phone clean, deleting crucial evidence and this counted as tampering with evidence, says the agency. The chargesheet says Chandrashekhar gave ₹ 7.12 crore to the actor – ₹ 1.26 crore to her sister in the US, ₹ 15 lakh to her brother in Australia and gifts worth ₹ 5.71 crore.

Sukesh Chandrashekhar was arrested by the Delhi Police for allegedly extorting around ₹ 215 crore from Aditi Singh and Shivender Singh, former promoters of pharmaceutical giant Ranbaxy.