Rs 200 crore extortion case: Delhi Police gets 3-day remand of Pinki Irani

According to the police, Mumbai-based Pinky Irani is said to be a close aide of Chandrashekhar and introduced him to Bollywood actor Jacqueline Fernandez.

Additional Sessions Judge Shailendra Malik of Delhi Patiala House Court on Wednesday sent Irani to three days' police remand after noting the submissions of Delhi Police that the accused Pinky Irani used to portray herself as a business tycoon and the accused used to be instrumental in facilitating certain Bollywood personalities to contact with main accused Sukesh Chandrasekhar.

It is alleged that accused Pinky Irani has been instrumental in disposing of the amount of money extorted from the complainant and other sources.

R.K. Handoo, counsel for the accused vehemently opposed the application on the ground that whatever facts have been mentioned in the remand paper of EOW is exactly the same as those mentioned in the remand application of ED. He submits that the accused Pinky Irani rather herself was a victim of the main accused and there has not been at all any material warranting for the arrest of the accused. Moreover, the investigation with regard to trail traces of proceeds of crime is within the domain of ED and not EOW.

Last week, the Economic Offences Wing of Delhi Police recorded the statement of actor Jacqueline Fernandez in the court under Section 164 after she said she wanted to give some important information in the Rs 200 crore fraud case involving conman Sukesh Chandrashekhar.

Earlier Pinki Irani was arrested by the ED and got bail later. While moving bail plea she had stated that the allegations of violation of provisions of PMLA against the applicant are misconceived on facts and untenable in law, which the trial court has failed to appreciate and does not make out any case on facts and law against the applicant under the provisions of PMLA.

Last year, the Enforcement Directorate confronted Mumbai-based Pinki Irani with Sukesh Chandrasekar inside Tihar Jail.

Another actress Nora Fatehi was also questioned by the ED here in connection with the same case. ED is looking into various people who are directly or indirectly connected to this case. Reports suggest that the ED is looking into the possibility that money was invested abroad and it was led by Chandrasekhar, who is accused in 21 cases.

This ED case is based on an FIR filed by Delhi Police's Economic Offences Wing (EOW) against Sukesh Chandrasekhar who is accused of cheating and extorting Aditi Singh, wife of the former promoter of Religare Enterprises Shivinder Mohan Singh, who was arrested in October 2019 in a case related to alleged misappropriation of funds at Religare Finvest Ltd.

Chandrasekhar and his associates reportedly took money from Aditi after posing as government officials and promising to get bail for her husband. Chandrasekhar reportedly persuaded Aditi to transfer money by impersonating a central government official over a spoof call while he was lodged in Rohini jail and promised to manage bail for her husband.

Both Chandrasekhar and his actor wife Leena Maria Paul were arrested by the Delhi Police in September last year for their alleged role in the duping case. The Delhi Police has so far arrested 13 people in connection with the case. The ED suspects that Chandrasekhar had extorted money from several people while he was in jail.

At the time of the incident, Chandrashekhar was lodged in Delhi's Rohini jail and was running an extortion racket from behind the bars. In September, the ED had arrested two aides of the jailed conman against whom the Delhi Police recently invoked stringent provisions of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA). Chandrasekhar was allegedly running the cheating and extortion racket in connivance with jail officials and some associates outside. (ANI)