Actor Jacqueline Fernandez is a victim of a conspiracy, her lawyer claimed on Thursday, a day after she was named as an accused by the Enforcement Directorate in a money laundering case, NDTV reported.
“She has always cooperated with the investigation agencies and has handed over all the information to the best of her ability,” Fernandez’s lawyer Prashant Patil said, according to India Today. “The agencies have failed to appreciate that she was cheated and conned into this matter.”
Fernandez was named as an accused in a supplementary chargesheet filed before a Delhi court against alleged conman Sukesh Chandrashekhar on Wednesday.
Chandrashekhar was arrested by the Delhi Police on August 7 for allegedly extorting around Rs 215 crore from Shivinder Singh, a former promoter of pharmaceutical giant Ranbaxy, and his wife Aditi Singh.
The Enforcement Directorate, which is probing the money trail in the case, has alleged that Chandrashekhar used the money gained by cheating and extorting high-profile individuals to buy gifts worth Rs 5.71 crore for Fernandez.
Out of the proceeds of the crime, he also gave $1,72,913 (about Rs 1.3 crore) and 26,740 Australian dollars (nearly Rs 14 lakh) to Fernandez’s family through co-accused Avtar Singh Kochhar, an established international hawala operator, the central agency alleged.
The investigating agency also claimed that Fernandez was aware that the gifts given to her were the proceeds of a crime. In April, the agency had attached assets worth Rs 7.27 crore belonging to the actor.
In Thursday’s statement, Fernandez’s lawyer claimed that the Enforcement Directorate did not send a copy of its complaint to the actor. “However, if the media reports are true, then it is unfortunate that my client has been arraigned as an accused in the said case,” he said.
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