JOIN USED questions Jacqueline Fernandez as 'witness' in money laundering case
Bollywood actress Jacqueline Fernandez was on Monday quizzed by Enforcement Directorate as a "witness" in a money laundering case involving a "known conman" Sukesh Chandrashekhar.
Officials said the actress, a Sri Lankan national, is not an accused in the case arising out of a multi-crore extortion racket allegedly operated by Chandrashekhar.
The ED case is based on an FIR of the Delhi Police's Economic Offences Wing (EOW) against him and others in the extortion case running to around Rs 200 crore.
On August 23, the ED had said that it has "seized a luxurious beach front bungalow located in Chennai, Rs 82.5 lakhs cash, 2 kg gold, 16 luxurious cars and other high end items" in connection with the case.
Chandrashekhar has been allegedly running the racket from Rohini Jail in the national capital, where he is lodged. He has also been an accused in the Election Commission bribery case.
The ED, in its statement on August 23, had called him a "known conman" and has been a part of the crime world since the age of 17. He has multiple FIRs against him and is presently lodged at the Rohini jail," it had said.
Despite being in jail, it said, Chandrashekhar "did not stop conning" people. "He (with a cellphone procured illegally in the prison) with the help of technology, made spoofed calls to dupe people as the numbers displayed on the called party's phone number belonged to senior government officers," it had said.
He was arrested in the EC bribery case on 17 April, 2017 from Hyatt Hotel in south Delhi allegedly with Rs 1.30 crore and two cars -- a BMW and a Mercedes. Police had then claimed that Sukesh struck a deal for Rs 50 crore for helping the AIADMK faction led by TTK Dhinakaran keep the 'Two Leaves' symbol.
His first brush with police was in 2007, then 17 years, when he “cheated” a 75-year-old man in Bengaluru of Rs 1.14 crore by promising him to get allocation of a site from Bengaluru Development Authority.