Enforcement Directorate (ED) has filed a charge sheet against conman Sukhesh Chandrasekhar at the Patiala House Court on Saturday, according to reports. The charge sheet has named Sukhesh Chandrasekhar as the prime accused in the Rs 200 crore extortion case. Names of Bollywood actresses Jacqueline Fernandez and Nora Fatehi were also mentioned in the charge sheet.
The ED has been interrogating several persons linked with the money laundering case involving Sukhesh Chandrasekhar. It had arrested co-accused Deepak Ramnani who had revealed that he had acted in the direction of Sukhesh Chandrasekhar. Leena Maria Paul, wife of Sukhesh Chandrasekhar was also found to be actively involved in the case during ED interrogation. As per reports, a Delhi court had noted that conman Sukhesh Chandrasekhar ran the extortion racket from inside Delhi’s Rohini jail. Sukhesh Chandrasekhar and Leena Maria Paul were arrested under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). Another co-accused Pradeep Ramdani was also arrested in the case.
Names of those included in the charge sheet filed at the Patiala House Court include Sukesh Chandrashekhar, Leena Maria Paul, Deepak Ramnani, Pradeep Ramnani, Kamlesh Kothari, Avtar Singh Kochhar and two others.
Notably, Bollywood Actresses Jacqueline Fernandez and Nora Farehi have also been mentioned in the charge sheet. Sukesh’s Advocate had earlier claimed that Jacqueline Fernandez was in a relationship with his client which was denied by Jacqueline’s spokesperson. Reportedly, they started talking to each other in January 2021 and that Sukhesh had given expensive gifts worth over Rs 10 crore to Jacqueline.
Expensive gift items of Sukhesh to Jacqueline include diamond-studded jewellery sets, crockeries, four Persian cats worth 36 lakhs and a horse worth Rs 52 lakh. Sukesh used to chat with Jacqueline over mobile from jail. When Sukesh had received bail in April-June this year, he booked a chartered flight for himself and also arranged for chartered flights for actress Jacqueline Fernandes to meet her in Chennai.
Similarly, Nora Fatehi also reportedly received expensive gifts from Sukesh Chandrasekhar, including a BMW car.
Furthermore, Patiala House Court had taken cognizance of the charge sheet filed by ED against Sukesh Chandrashekhar and others in the 200 Crore money laundering case. The court also directed ED to supply a copy of the charge sheet to all accused in the case.
Sukesh and his alleged wife Leena Paul are accused of alleged criminal conspiracy, cheating, and extortion of about Rs 200 crore from former Fortis Healthcare promoter Shivinder Singh’s wife, Aditi Singh. They had allegedly promised her that they could get Singh out of jail. Chandrashekhar is also an accused in the Election Commission (EC) bribery case of 2017 in which he had allegedly paid money to get the AIADMK ‘two leaves’ symbol for the Sasikala faction in a by-election in Tamil Nadu. Sukesh is currently lodged in Rohini Jail, Delhi.
Sukesh Chandrashekhar is also accused of duping several people by promising them jobs. Posing as a relative of a politician, he reportedly duped more than 100 people and cheated them to the tune of Rs 75 crore. Sukesh and Leena Paul were arrested in 2011 in a cheating case, but he resumed his activities after his release on bail. Once he had taken Rs 20 lakh from Kerala based businessman promising to bring actor Katrina Kaif for a promotional event, but bought brought Telugu actor Allu Arjun instead.
On August 23, during the raid, ED recovered Rs 82.5 lakh in cash, 2kg gold, 16 luxury cars and other luxury items from a luxurious beach bungalow located in Chennai linked to Sukesh.
