SC to hear Jacqueline's plea in money laundering case
What's the story
The Supreme Court is set to hear actor Jacqueline Fernandez's plea on Thursday, which challenges a Delhi court order that framed charges against her in a ₹200 crore money laundering case. She filed the petition against the May 30 Delhi court order that directed charges be framed against her under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in the case being probed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
Legal proceedings
'Curious case': Fernandez's lawyer
Fernandez's lawyer, Rameeza Hakim, expressed concerns over the Delhi court's directive, saying, "I have come up against the framing of charges in the ED case." Appearing for the actor, she said, "This is a curious case as I am a prosecution witness in the scheduled offense, while I am named as an accused in the PMLA case." The SC's bench of justices PK Mishra and AS Chandurkar agreed to hear the matter on Thursday after Hakim requested urgent listing.
Case background
Prima facie case made out against Fernandez
The May 30 order was passed by additional sessions judge Prashant Sharma, who held that a prima facie case is made out against Fernandez based on the evidence. On June 3, the charges were formally framed against alleged conman Sukesh Chandrasekhar and Fernandez, among others. The second supplementary complaint filed by the ED against Fernandez stated that she was in constant touch with Chandrasekhar and had received valuable gifts from him.
Legal strategy
Fernandez moved application to become an approver
Hakim told the court that Fernandez earlier moved an application in the ED case to become an approver. However, since the ED opposed this move, she withdrew it on April 16. The trial in this case commenced this month after charges were framed against Chandrasekhar and Fernandez. The investigation into the main case was carried out by the Delhi Police, which arrested Chandrasekhar in 2017. Later, the ED took up the probe concerning money laundering and arrested him in 2021.