The legal drama surrounding the Rs 200 crore extortion case involving conman Sukesh Chandrasekhar has seen a fresh development. A Delhi court has dismissed an application that sought to summon Bollywood actor Jacqueline Fernandez and Leepakshi Ellawadi as additional accused in the MCOCA case. Special Judge Gagandeep Singh, while presiding over the Rouse Avenue court, ruled that there were no sufficient grounds to invoke Section 319 of the CrPC to add them to the list of accused at this stage.
The application was moved by Navas Kakkat, an alleged close aide of Sukesh who was previously deported from the UAE. Kakkat’s legal team argued that as someone accused of managing and transferring the proceeds of crime, he was merely following instructions to facilitate payments for gifts and travel for several celebrities. His counsel contended that if he is being held responsible for handling these funds, then the recipients—specifically Fernandez and Ellawadi—should also be held accountable as beneficiaries of the alleged crime.
However, the court found the arguments insufficient. Judge Singh noted that the applicant’s case relied heavily on the statements of co-accused Pinki Irani. The court observed that even if the confessions provided were taken as entirely true, they did not establish a clear role for the beneficiaries in the organized crime syndicate’s operations. The prosecution, led by Special Public Prosecutor Akhand Pratap Singh, maintained that the matter had already been addressed during the framing of charges and that the application was not maintainable.
While Jacqueline Fernandez remains a witness in the MCOCA case, she continues to be an accused in the separate money laundering case filed by the Enforcement Directorate. The court’s latest dismissal brings a temporary halt to the attempt to expand the list of accused in the ongoing MCOCA proceedings, keeping the focus strictly on the individuals currently facing trial.