The Enforcement Directorate opposed the bail plea filed by Jacqueline Fernandez on October 22 and told a Delhi court that she was not an ordinary person and had “huge financial resources with a high stature, influence as well as deep pockets”, and could interfere with the ongoing probe against her in the Rs. 200-crore money laundering case involving conman Sukesh Chandrasekhar. Additional sessions judge Shailendra Malik, however, extended the interim bail granted to her, till November 10.
The court had granted the actress interim bail on September 26 subject to five conditions including that she would not leave the country without its permission. The ED alleged that Jacqueline had attempted to flee India during the course of the investigation but was barred by the immigration authorities. The agency also claimed that Jacqueline hadn’t cooperated with the investigation and had tampered with evidence by deleting data from her phone and also telling others to do so, which she herself had admitted. The ED added that Fernandez kept “improving” her statements and till date denied that she and her family members used the “proceeds of crime worth more than Rs. 7.1 crore in the form of gifts and cash payments” despite being aware of the conman’s alleged criminal acts. The investigating agency argued, “This conduct of the accused showed her involvement in the act of commission of money laundering with criminal intent, and knowledge on part of applicant/accused who tried her level best to utilise the proceeds of crime herself as well as share the proceeds of crime with her family members.”