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Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra of the Supreme Court on Thursday recused from hearing a petition filed by Bollywood actor Jacqueline Fernandez against a Delhi trial court order framing charges against her and alleged conman Sukesh Chandrashekhar in a Rs 200 crore money laundering case.
A bench of Justices PK Mishra and AS Chandurkar directed that the matter be listed before another bench on June 25. At the outset, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta informed the bench that he was appearing for the investigating agency, Enforcement Directorate. Justice Mishra said, "There is some difficulty; it will before some other bench. In one of the connected matters, my son appeared for the government side. Post it before the bench in which one of us is not a member." Fernandez has challenged the May 30 order of Patiala House Court here, which directed framing of charges against the actor in the case being investigated by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). On May 30, Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Prashant Sharma held that a prima facie case is made out against Fernandez, based on the material produced by ED. The court noted that there is prima facie sufficient material to indicate that Fernandez received luxurious gifts from Chandrasekhar despite having knowledge of his criminal antecedents. She was in connivance with Chandrasekhar to conceal the use of proceeds of crime (POC), the judge had said. On June 3, the charges were formally framed against Chandrashekhar and Fernandez, among others, following which the trial in the case commenced. The actor had earlier moved an application in the ED case to turn an approver; however, since the agency opposed the same, Fernandez withdrew it on April 16. Both Chandrasekhar and his wife were arrested by the Delhi Police in September 2021 for their alleged role in the duping case. They are presently in judicial custody. (ANI)
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