A day after Jacqueline Fernandez was named an accused in a £20 million extortion case connected to conman Sukesh Chandrashekhar, her lawyer claimed she is innocent. In a statement, her legal team added that Jacqueline is actually a victim of the crime and should not be treated as an accused.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has alleged that Chandrashekhar used the money to purchase gifts for Jacqueline, which he had extorted by cheating high-profile people, including former Fortis Healthcare promoter Shivinder Mohan Singh’s wife Aditi Singh. The ED had said in a statement, “Sukesh Chandrasekhar had given various gifts worth £571,000 to Jacqueline from the proceeds of crime generated by criminal activities including extortion.”
She was questioned after pictures emerged that appeared to show she was in a relationship with Sukesh. According to a media report, her lawyer Prashant Patil said, “You have to understand the humanitarian side of this. When any person is innocent, and if she is charged with a fake offence, it definitely is painful and not fair. Without hearing Jacqueline’s side of the story, it’s not fair to prosecute her with such untrue allegations. Nobody has bothered to read the evidence filed by the ED.”
He added, “The entire evidence reflects that she is innocent. Be it a common man or a celebrity, every person has a right to live with dignity. She has worked immensely hard in life to achieve what she has achieved in her profession. Such frivolous allegations only tarnish the image unnecessarily.”
In another statement, Patil claimed that Jackie was the victim here and stressed that she has been willingly cooperating with the authorities. He said, “She has handed over all the information to the best of her ability to the ED. The agencies have failed to appreciate that she was cheated and conned into this matter. She is a victim of a larger criminal conspiracy.”
