Sukesh fraud case: EOW files supplementary charge sheet

Bollywood actors Jacqueline Fernandez and Nora Fatehi have been named “witnesses” in the case, the EOW said

The economic offences wing (EOW) of the Delhi Police on Monday said they have submitted a supplementary charge sheet before a Delhi court in connection with an alleged ₹200 crore fraud case involving Sukesh Chandrashekhar, a man who faces multiple cases of cheating people, and have named his aide Pinki Irani as an accused.

Actor Jacqueline Fernandez leaves after appearing before the Patiala House court in connection with the money laundering case linked to Sukesh Chandrashekhar in New Delhi on Monday. (PTI)

Bollywood actors Jacqueline Fernandez and Nora Fatehi have been named “witnesses” in the case, the EOW said.

“We had recorded statements of Fernandez and Fatehi under section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) as witnesses. In the supplementary charge sheet, the two have been named as witnesses. We will be probing the case further and may arrest the two actors if any fresh evidence pertaining to the case emerges against them in the future. Irani on the other hand has been named as an accused in the supplementary charge sheet,” said the EOW official.

Chandrashekhar (33) is involved in at least 32 criminal cases across Delhi, Mumbai, Karnataka and other states. Between 2020 and early 2021, when he was in Delhi’s Rohini jail, he allegedly pulled off a ₹200 crore heist by duping jailed industrialist Shivinder Mohan’s wife Aditi Singh, posing as the Union law secretary and calling her with an offer to bail her jailed husband.

The EOW and Enforcement Directorate (ED) are separately probing the alleged heist. While the EOW is probing allegations of fraud and corruption inside jail, ED is investigating the money laundering charges.

Chandrashekhar and his wife Leena Paulose are currently lodged at Delhi’s Mandoli Jail and have filed a petition in the top court to be shifted to another jail, claiming that there was a threat to their life. Irani, who is accused of introducing Fernandez to Chandrashekhar, was arrested in November 2022 after her role in the crime was established during the probe, an EOW official aware of the development in the case said, asking not to be identified.

Both Fernandez and Fatehi were questioned by the EOW after Chandrashekhar’s interrogation and a probe into the fraud case revealed their alleged association with him.

Fernandez was also questioned by the ED, which has named her as an accused in their charge sheet. She has maintained that she too is a victim of Chandrashekhar and has denied allegations of money laundering or of receiving proceeds of crime.