Jacqueline Fernandez gets interim bail in Rs 200-crore extortion case, ED response sought on permanent bail plea

Days after she was questioned for eight hours by the Economic Offences Wing of the Delhi Police, Bollywood actor Jacqueline Fernandez was on Monday granted interim bail by Delhi’s Patiala House court in connection with the Rs 200-crore extortion case involving conman Sukesh Chandrashekhar. The actor was granted interim bail on a bail bond for Rs 50,000 and a surety for the like amount.

Granting bail, additional sessions judge Shailender Malik directed the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to file its response to Fernandez’s regular bail plea. The court is slated to take up the matter for further hearing on October 22.

Also Read: Jacqueline Fernandez appears before Economic Offenses Wing in Sukesh Chandrashekhar case

Earlier this month, the EOW of Delhi police had summoned Fernandez in connection with the money laundering case linked to Chandrashekhar. She was summoned along with Pinky Irani, who had purportedly received crores of rupees for introducing Chandrashekhar with the actor.

According to reports, several inconsistencies were observed by the EOW while questioning Fernandez and Irani separately. Earlier, actor Nora Fatehi was also quizzed by the EOW in connection with the same case. The ED had stated that both Fernandez and Fatehi were beneficiaries of the proceeds of the crime as they were presented with several luxurious gifts by the conman.

Also Read: ED names actor Jacqueline Fernandez as accused in multi-crore money-laundering scam

On August 17, Fernandez was named an accused in the case involving Chandrashekhar in ED’s supplementary chargesheet. The ED, in its chargesheet, claimed that the actor received jewellery worth Rs 7 crore, several luxurious cars and fashion accessories from Chandrashekar, knowing that they were from the proceeds of the crime.

In a statement to the ED, Fernandez has denied any knowledge of Chandrashekar’s criminal antecedents and said that she was introduced to him as an owner of Sun TV belonging to an influential political family from Tamil Nadu.

Chandrashekhar is currently in prison for duping various high net worth individuals of huge sums of money, including Fortis Healthcare promoter Shivinder Monhan Singh’s wife Aditi Singh.