Delhi HC rejects Jacqueline Fernandez’s plea to quash ED case in ₹200-crore scam

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court has refused to quash the Enforcement Directorate's (ED) money laundering case against Bollywood actress Jacqueline Fernandez in connection with the ₹200-crore extortion case involving alleged conman Sukesh Chandrashekhar.

Justice Anish Dayal delivered the verdict on Thursday, stating, “The petition is dismissed,” while a detailed judgement is awaited.

The ED case arises from a 2022 FIR filed by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Delhi Police, which accuses Chandrashekhar of impersonating a senior government official to extort money from Aditi Singh, wife of former Religare promoter Shivinder Mohan Singh, in exchange for a bogus promise to secure his release from jail.

While the EOW is investigating corruption and fraud inside the prison, the ED is pursuing a parallel money laundering probe. Fernandez has been named as a co-accused in the ED’s supplementary charge sheet and was granted bail in 2022 upon furnishing a ₹2 lakh personal bond and a surety of the same amount.

In her petition, Fernandez sought to quash the ECIR dated 8 August 2021, the second supplementary complaint dated 17 August 2022, and all subsequent proceedings. She argued that ED’s case was unfounded and that she was merely a victim of Chandrashekhar’s manipulation. Notably, she has been named as a witness, not an accused, in the EOW investigation.

Her legal team claimed that the ED’s case relied solely on her knowledge of Chandrashekhar’s criminal history, which was allegedly based on a newspaper article — not solid evidence.

However, the ED, represented by special counsel Zoheb Hossain, maintained that their investigation was independent of the EOW’s case and that Fernandez’s status as a witness in one case offered no immunity in the other.

The case continues to draw public and media scrutiny due to its high-profile nature and the cross-section of celebrity, crime, and financial fraud.