SC Refuses To Hear Jacqueline’s Plea In Money Laundering Case

The Supreme Court on Monday declined to entertain Bollywood actor Jacqueline Fernandez’s plea in the money laundering case linked to conman Sukesh Chandrashekhar, saying she may approach the court at the appropriate stage.

The bench granted her liberty to file again at a relevant time but refused to intervene at this stage of the proceedings. Bollywood actor Jacqueline Fernandez has approached the Supreme Court, challenging the Delhi High Court’s order that dismissed her plea seeking to quash proceedings in the ₹200-crore money laundering case linked to alleged conman Sukesh Chandrashekhar. As part of her petition, Fernandez has also sought an interim stay on the ongoing trial against her.

Her plea before the High Court had specifically challenged the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) as well as the second supplementary complaint in which she was named as the tenth accused. Fernandez maintained that the material filed by the ED itself establishes her status as an “innocent victim" of what she described as Sukesh’s “maliciously targeted attack."

The petition further pointed out that the ED had admitted in its own case records that officials at Tihar Jail had allowed Sukesh unrestricted access to mobile phones and other electronic devices. The Delhi High Court, however, rejected these arguments. On July 3, Justice Anish Dayal dismissed Fernandez’s petition, ruling that her apprehension of potential self-incrimination from the evidence cannot form grounds to quash the ECIR.

The top court held that adequate statutory and constitutional safeguards already exist to protect against self-incrimination, and that these protections would have to be examined within the legal framework of the trial rather than at the threshold stage.