Actor Jacqueline Fernandez, who is currently being investigated by the Enforcement Directorate in the Rs 200 crore money laundering case involving conman Sukesh Chandrashekhar, has been granted permission by a Delhi court to travel abroad for an award function.
The former Miss Sri Lanka has received approval to travel to Abu Dhabi between May 31 and June 6 to participate in the upcoming IIFA Awards 2022. The ED had previously issued a Lookout Circular (LOC) against the actor, which prevented her from being able to leave the country.
On May 11, Fernandez had moved the court seeking permission to travel abroad for 15 days to Abu Dhabi, France and Nepal. She had also requested the court to direct the ED to release her passport. In her application, Fernandez had mentioned that she wanted to participate in an international film event in Abu Dhabi between May 17 and May 22, travel to France for the Cannes Film festival 2022 from May 17 to May 28, and then to Nepal on May 27-28.
The Delhi court, which had sought a response from the ED on the same day, has now granted Fernandez permission to travel from May 31-June 6.
The ED is probing the money laundering case, which is based on a FIR filed by Delhi Police’s Economic Offences Wing against conman Sukesh Chandrashekhar and others, for alleged criminal conspiracy, cheating, and extortion of around Rs 200 crores. The agency has seized a sea-facing bungalow in Chennai, along with Rs 82.5 lakh in cash and over a dozen luxury cars, in connection with the case.
Chandrasekhar, who was arrested in 2017 for attempting to bribe the Election Commission, was allegedly running the extortion racket from behind bars. The ED said that he had reportedly made calls to dupe multiple people by impersonating senior government officers and offering to “help them” for a price, using a cellphone that was illegally procurred in prison.
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Fortis Healthcare promoter Shivinder Mohan Singh’s wife, Aditi Singh, was one of the parties cheated in this manner. She had informed the police that in June 2020, a man pretending to be a senior official of the law ministry had offered to help her secure bail for her husband, who was arrested in a money laundering case at the time, in exchange for funds.
In August, Fernandez was questioned by ED as a witness in the case for over five hours in Delhi. She was considered to be one of the many victims in the Rs 200 crore scam.
As per a chargesheet filed by ED, Fernandez received expensive gifts from Chandrashekhar. While she confirmed this, the actor alleged that he had approached her under the pretext of being the owner of Sun TV.
Recently, the ED attached assets worth over Rs 7 crore belonging to the actor to the probe in the money laundering case.