Supreme Court judge, Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra, on Thursday recused himself from hearing Bollywood actor Jacqueline Fernandez's plea challenging the framing of charges against her in a Rs 200-crore money laundering case.
A partial working day (PWD) bench -- earlier called as Vacation bench -- of Justice Mishra and Justice Atul S Chandurkar told the actor’s lawyer and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) that the case would be sent to a different bench.
When the matter was taken up for hearing in the apex court on Thursday, Justice Mishra said he could not hear the case as his son had appeared in one of the connected matters in the case for the government side. “There is some difficulty. In one of the connected matters, my son had appeared on the government side. Post this matter on June 25 before a bench in which one of us is not a member,” Justice Mishra said and recused from hearing the case.
Following the recusal of Justice Mishra from the bench, the matter will now be listed on June 25 before a bench without him. The top court registry will place it before the CJI for allocation to a suitable bench.
On September 22 last year, the Supreme Court in its order had refused to interfere with a Delhi High Court's order dismissing her plea to quash an ECIR (equivalent to FIR) in a Rs 200 crore money laundering case involving alleged conman Sukesh Chandrasekhar. This forced her to move the SC for relief.
Fernandez moved the top court seeking quashing of the ECIR of August 08, 2021, and the 2nd Supplementary complaint filed under Section 3 and 4 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, (PMLA) 2002 by the ED.
Bollywood actor Fernandez, 38, one of the accused in the Rs 200 crore money laundering case involving prime accused Chandrashekhar and others, was granted regular bail in the case on November 15, 2022.
Earlier, a Delhi trial court had framed charges against her under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) 2002. The actress always maintained that she was duped by Chandrashekhar and was unaware that the gifts she received were bought with proceeds of crime.
The ED in its chargesheet claimed that Chandrashekhar allegedly gave the actor luxury gifts worth crores using tainted money. The agency has already attached properties linked to her.
Prashant Patil and other lawyers, appearing for Fernandez, argued before the top court that she was not an accused in the main predicate offence of extortion and that there was no allegation she helped launder the money.
The actress, a Sri Lankan national, faced serious allegations of money laundering charges, and she was not cooperating with the investigators properly, the ED claimed in its chargesheet.
The agency had named Jacqueline as an accused in the charge sheet it filed in the extortion case against Chandrashekar. She was accused of allegedly receiving expensive gifts from the conman, who extorted crores of rupees from celebrities and businessmen.
On August 17, 2022, a supplementary chargesheet was filed by the ED against conman Chandrashekar in the same Delhi Court in the Rs 200 crore money laundering case.
The ED chargesheet revealed that Jacqueline was named as accused number 10 in the case.
Patil, vehemently denied the involvement of her client with Sukesh, and claimed innocence in the case.