The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed the plea of Bollywood actress Jacqueline Fernandez with liberty to approach the court at appropriate stage.
Fernandez challenged Delhi High Court’s order of dismissing her plea of quashing criminal proceedings in the 200 crore money laundering case involving alleged conman Sukesh Chandrasekhar.
The bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and A.G. Masih declined to hear the matter, following which Fernandez withdrew her petition.
The plea had challenged the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) ECIR and the trial court’s cognisance of the chargesheet, along with seeking quashing of the second supplementary chargesheet and pending proceedings in the trial court.
Fernandez had approached the Supreme Court after the Delhi High Court dismissed her similar plea.
During the hearing in SC, Justice Datta observed that allegations against the her were based on gifts received, and at the stage of framing charges, the court has to accept the allegations as they stand.
Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi, representing Fernandez, contended that she was unaware of the illicit origin of the gifts and had merely come in contact with Chandrasekhar due to her celebrity status.
He argued that the case involved extortion and the Maharashtra Control of Organized Crime Act (MCOCA), which is identical to Section 3 of PMLA.
He argued that Fernandez was only a witness in the alleged predicate offence.
Earlier in the Delhi High Court, the ED argued that the petition was not maintainable as the special court had already taken cognisance of the chargesheet and found a prima facie case.
The ED had also alleged that Fernandez did not verify news reports regarding Chandrasekhar before accepting gifts.
Chandrasekhar, currently in jail, is accused of duping the spouses of former Ranbaxy promoters Shivinder and Malvinder Singh of ₹200 crore and is facing multiple investigations across the country.
The ED has alleged that he, along with his wife Leena Paulose and others, used shell companies and hawala channels to park proceeds of crime.
Jacqueline in her plea stated that the evidence submitted by the ED would demonstrate that she is an ‘innocent victim’ of Sukesh’s ‘maliciously targeted scheme.’
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