Actor Jacqueline Fernandez has been in the news over the last few weeks after her name cropped up during the probe in the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). She has been accused of having received gifts from conman Sukesh Chandrasekhar. However, the actor has said that she was conned and manipulated by Sukesh and requested the authorities to release her assets attached by the Enforcement Directorate.
ED ordered provisional attachment of her fixed deposits worth ₹7.2 crore in April this year. A charge sheet was also filed against Jacqueline last week, accusing her of laundering proceeds of crime.
As per Hindustan Times, replying to a notice issued following the provisional attachment order before the appellate authority of PMLA in New Delhi, the ‘Kick’ actor said: ‘Just because she is (a) recipient of certain gifts which were forced on her for forming a connect, can’t be used to ignore the fact which the record otherwise clearly shows that she was conned by Sukesh Chandrasekhar
The actor further asserted that she what she has ‘lost and suffered as a woman cannot be calculated in monetary terms’. Accusing ED of ‘malafide, motivated and biased approach’, Jacqueline said other celebrities like Norah Fatehi were also conned by Chandrasekhar but they have been made witnesses whereas she has been dragged as an accused.
Chandrasekhar, who was arrested by the Delhi Police in April 2017 in the Election Commission (EC) bribery case, gifted several expensive items to Jacqueline, which she claimed she had returned.