Bollywood actor Jacqueline Fernandez found herself back in the legal spotlight as her counsel presented arguments before the Delhi High Court on Wednesday. Fernandez is challenging the charge sheet filed against her in the high-profile ₹200 crore money laundering case involving alleged conman Sukesh Chandrashekar. Her legal team contends that she was not involved in any criminal activity and was unaware that the luxurious gifts she received were linked to the proceeds of crime.
Justice Anish Dayal posed a question during the hearing, “Is there a responsibility on the part of an adult to ascertain the source of gifts received?” This query underlined a central issue in the case — whether Jacqueline, as a recipient of the gifts, had a duty to investigate their origin. A post shared by Jacqueliene Fernandez (@jacquelienefernandez) Jacqueline’s senior advocate, Siddharth Agrawal, supported by Prashant Patil and Shakti Pandey, argued that the actor had no knowledge that the expensive items gifted to her were purchased with money allegedly obtained through illegal means. They emphasized that the gifts were facilitated by Pinky Irani, who convinced Jacqueline of Sukesh Chandrashekar’s influential political connections, portraying him as a well-connected businessman rather than a criminal.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has claimed that Jacqueline continued accepting gifts from Sukesh even after a newspaper article surfaced in February 2019, detailing his alleged illegal.
