Jacqueline Fernandez asked to appear before ED in money-laundering case

New Delhi, Oct 15: Actor Jacqueline Fernandez has been asked by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to appear before the agency and record her statement on Saturday after she skipped her summons on Friday in connection with a money laundering case being probed against alleged conman Sukesh Chandrashekar, officials said.

Fernandez, 36, once appeared before the federal agency in August and recorded her statement under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in this case. The officials said that after she skipped her fresh summons for Friday, the Bollywood actor has been asked to depose before the investigating officer of the case on Saturday.

It is understood that the agency wants to confront her with Chandrashekhar and his actor wife, Leena Maria Paul. The agency, they said, wants to understand some trail of funds and transactions that are allegedly linked to Fernandez in this case. Actor and dancer Norah Fatehi, 29, recorded her statement with the ED on Thursday in this case.

"Nora Fatehi has been the victim around the case and being a witness, she is co-operating and helping the officers in the investigation," her representative said. The spokesperson maintained that Fatehi has not been a part of "any money laundering activity" and urged the media to "refrain from slandering her name".

"She does not know or have any personal connection with the accused and has been called by the ED to strictly help with the investigation," the spokesperson said.

Chandrashekhar and Paul were recently arrested by the ED while they were already lodged in a local jail after being taken into custody by the Delhi Police on charges of cheating some people, including some high-profile individuals like former Fortis Healthcare promoter Shivinder Mohan Singh's wife Aditi Singh.

In August, the ED had raided some of Chandrashekhar's premises and seized a sea-facing bungalow in Chennai, Rs 82.5 lakh cash and over a dozen luxury cars. It had claimed in a statement that Chandrashekhar is a "known conman" and is being probed by the Delhi Police in a case of alleged criminal conspiracy, cheating and extortion to the tune of about Rs 200 crore.

"Chandrasekhar is the mastermind of this fraud. He has been part of the crime world since the age of 17. He has multiple FIRs against him and is presently lodged in Rohini jail (in connection with the Delhi Police case)," the ED had said.

Despite being in the jail, it said, Chandrashekhar "did not stop conning" people. "He (using a cellphone procured illegally in 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.

"While speaking (from prison) to these persons, he claimed to be a government officer offering to help people for a price," the ED had claimed. PTI NES AAR