Delhi Police questions Jacqueline Fernandez, Sukesh Chandrashekhar’s associate Pinky Irani

Delhi Police’s Economic Offences Wing (EOW) has interrogated Bollywood actor Jacqueline Fernandez in an extortion case more than a year after arresting conman Sukesh Chandrashekhar. Until now, only the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had been summoning the actress. 

Besides Jacqueline, Chandrashekhar’s associate Pinky Irani, who convinced the actress to befriend the conman, is also being grilled. Irani also gave gifts to the actor on behalf of the conman and received crores from Chandrashekhar in lieu of his service. 

Fernandez is being questioned in the case as the conman gave the actress expensive gifts. The investigative agencies believe that Jacqueline and Sukesh were in a romantic relationship. While Jacqueline denied this squarely, Sukesh did not. 

“I and Jacqueline were in a relationship, seeing each other, and the relationship was not based on any kind of monetary benefits like the way it’s projected...the relationship has lots of love and respect for each other without any expectations,” Sukesh said in a letter in December last year.

Jacqueline is also being questioned because she is the only actress to stay in touch with Sukesh for little over six months till he was arrested by the Delhi Police on August 8, 2021. The ED has claimed she continued receiving gifts worth crores from the conman despite learning about his criminal background. 

As per an ED chargesheet, Chandrashekhar is an accused in at least 30 cases and is being probed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002. According to this chargesheet, he spent Rs 7 crore between February 2021 to August 2021 on gifts for Fernandez and her family. 

He was first caught between June 2020 and May 2021 when he conned a jailed industrialist’s wife off Rs 200 crore from Rohini jail in Delhi.  Chandrashekhar pretended to be the Union Law Secretary and took advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic to inform her that her husband was considered for a place in a COVID-19 committee and consequently for bail if she contributes to party funds.

Also read: Jacqueline Fernandez faces grave allegation; ED claims she knew of conman's past but continued accepting gifts

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