Supreme Court Rejects Jacqueline Fernandez's Plea To Quash ECIR In ₹200 Crore Money Laundering Case

2025-09-22 06:11:35

(MENAFN- Live Mint) The Supreme Court on Monday declined to overturn a Delhi High Court ruling, which upheld the dismissal of actor Jacqueline Fernandez's plea to set aside an ECIR (the equivalent of an FIR) in a ₹200 crore money laundering case involving the alleged conman Sukesh Chandrasekhar, news agency PTI reported.

“We will not interfere at this stage,” a bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and Augustine George Masih told senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, who represented Fernandez.

Fernandez had moved the SC challenging the Delhi High Court's July 3 order which dismissed her petition seeking quashing of the Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) in the money laundering case.

The actor is an accused in the money laundering case filed against Chandrasekhar and had appeared before the Enforcement Directorate for questioning in the investigation.

The Delhi Police had charged Chandrasekhar with allegedly defrauding the spouses of Ranbaxy's former promoters, Shivinder Singh and Malvinder Singh, of ₹200 crore, the PTI report said.

The Delhi High Court had rejected Bollywood actor Jacqueline Fernandez's claim that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) was adopting a“pick and choose” policy by not pursuing similar charges against other actors, including television personalities Nikki Tamboli, Chahatt Khanna, and Sophia Singh.

She had argued that the investigating agency failed to proceed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) against these individuals, who had also received gifts and articles from Chandrasekhar.

In its 95-page verdict, the HC had emphasised that the principle of parity - the idea of treating similar cases alike - is relevant in bail applications, but it cannot be applied when seeking to quash a charge, as that would completely nullify the ECIR against the petitioner. The judgement stated:“Whether the investigating agency chose a pick and choose policy or decided not to proceed against the others, based on the merits of the case, is not an issue under consideration before this court; petitioner is always at liberty to raise this issue at an appropriate stage.”

(With inputs from PTI)

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