New Delhi, 20 April (H.S.):

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has sought time from the Patiala House Court to file its response to actor Jacqueline Fernandez’s application seeking to become a government witness in the Rs 200-crore money-laundering case linked to conman Sukesh Chandrasekhar. Additional Sessions Judge Prashant Sharma directed that the matter be heard next on May 8.

On April 17, the court had issued notice to the ED on Jacqueline’s application. Fernandez is an accused in the case. She had earlier moved the Delhi High Court seeking quashing of the ED case against her, but her petition was dismissed. The Supreme Court later upheld the High Court’s order and also rejected her plea.

Fernandez is currently out on bail in the case. The Patiala House Court had granted her bail on November 15, 2022. On August 31, 2022, the court took cognisance of the supplementary chargesheet filed against her. The ED had filed the supplementary chargesheet on August 17, 2022, naming her as an accused. In April 2025, the agency attached property worth Rs 7 crore belonging to Fernandez in the case.

According to the ED’s chargesheet, the main accused, Sukesh Chandrasekhar, had given gifts worth more than Rs 5.71 crore to Fernandez. He allegedly sent these gifts through his associate Pinky Irani. The items included a horse worth Rs 52 lakh and a Persian cat worth Rs 9 lakh.

Fernandez has also filed a petition in the Delhi High Court seeking quashing of the FIR registered against her. That petition is still pending. In her plea, she has maintained that all allegations against her are false. She has said that not only did Sukesh Chandrasekhar cheat her, but Aditi Singh also committed fraud. Fernandez has asserted that she was targeted by Sukesh Chandrasekhar and had no role in the money-laundering case.

She has also denied Sukesh Chandrasekhar’s claim that he was in a relationship with her.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar