New Delhi: A Delhi Court has sent Pinki Irani to judicial custody till December 21 in connection with a probe into a Rs 200 crore extortion case involving jailed conman Sukesh Chandrasekhar. According to the Delhi Police, Mumbai-based Pinky Irani is said to be a close aide of Chandrasekhar and introduced him to Bollywood actor Jacqueline Fernandez.
Additional Sessions Judge Shailendra Malik while sending her to judicial custody noted the submissions of the Economic Offences Wing of Delhi Police which sought judicial custody. It stated that the accused was arrested in the case on November 30 and custody was needed to prevent the accused from committing any further offence, besides conducting a proper investigation. The EOW application also stated that to prevent the accused from tampering with evidence, or influencing witnesses the judicial custody remand of the accused was needed.
The court also noted that the accused has also moved an application stating that her statement has been wrongly recorded. Pinki Irani revealed on Saturday when she was produced before a magistrate in the Patiala House Court that the statement ‘was absolutely false but attributed to her’. The accused has stated that she is retracting all her statements and that be kept on record, the court noted.
The Delhi Police had earlier stated that Pinky Irani used to portray Chandrasekhar as a business tycoon. She was instrumental in facilitating certain Bollywood personalities getting in touch with the main accused, Sukesh Chandrasekhar, in the extortion case. It was also alleged that Irani has been instrumental in disposing of the amount extorted from the complainant and other sources.
Last week, the Economic Offences Wing of Delhi Police recorded the statement of actor Jacqueline Fernandez after she said she wanted to give some important information. Pinki Irani was arrested earlier but she managed to get bail. At the time, while moving the bail plea, she had stated that the allegations of violation of provisions of PMLA against the applicant were misconceived.
Last year, the ED confronted Irani with Sukesh Chandrasekar inside Tihar Jail. Another actor Nora Fatehi was also questioned by the ED here in connection with the same case. The ED is looking into various people who are directly or indirectly connected to this case. Reports suggest that the probe agency 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 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. He reportedly persuaded Aditi to transfer money by impersonating a central government official over a spoof call. At the time, he was lodged in Rohini jail and promised to manage bail for her husband.
Chandrasekhar was allegedly running the cheating and extortion racket in connivance with jail officials and some associates outside. 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 concerning the case. The ED suspects that Chandrasekhar had extorted money from several people while he was in jail. 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).
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