Actor Nora Fatehi on Monday recorded her statement before a Delhi court in a criminal complaint she has filed against actor Jacqueline Fernandez for allegedly defaming her by “unfairly dragging” her name into a Rs 200 crore money laundering case involving suspected conman Sukesh Chandrashekar.
Fatehi, a Canadian citizen, gave her statement before Metropolitan Magistrate Kapil Gupta in the complaint which has arrayed 15 media organisations as accused.
Fatehi accused Fernandez and the media houses of ruining her reputation in the public eye through false narratives.
“They have called me a gold digger and accused me of having a relationship with a con artist Sukesh Chandrasekhar…,” she told the court, adding that this has caused her financial loss and harmed her reputation.
Fatehi claimed that she had nothing to do with the case.
“I feel that I have been used as a scapegoat in this case in the media to safeguard certain people, and because I am an outsider, I have been used as a soft target and I want compensation for all the damages caused to my career,” she said.
The imputations made by the accused caused prolonged and unnecessary harassment, loss of work and cyberbullying, she added in her statement.
Fatehi, in her complaint, has said she has “a pristine reputation apart from a rapidly progressing career which has quite obviously threatened her rivals who are unable to compete with her on a fair footing”.
A defamatory statement was made by Fernandez in “bad faith” and with “mala fide intention” and was circulated by the media houses with an intent to defame her, she alleged.
Fatehi claimed that the allegations made by Fernandez that she had received gifts from Chandrashekar were wrong.
“The only time the complainant spoke to Chandrashekar was when his wife Leena Maria Paul made her speak to him over speakerphone at the event in Chennai where the complainant was invited by Leena.
“At the event, the complainant was gifted an iPhone and a Gucci bag by Leena. No gifts were ever received by the complainant from Chandrashekar,” Fatehi has said in the complaint.
Fatehi also denied she had received a luxury car from Chandrashekar and said it was part payment to her brother-in-law Bobby Khan who Chandrashekar had approached for directing a movie.
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“Since the complainant had never even spoken to Chandrashekar let alone having met him, hence the imputation made by Fernandez and the subsequent publishing of the same by the accused media houses are untrue,” the complaint said.
The court on November 15 granted bail to Fernandez who is an accused in the money laundering case. She was not arrested.
The court had on August 31 taken cognisance of a supplementary charge sheet filed by the Enforcement Directorate and asked Fernandez to appear before it.
Fernandez, who was summoned by the ED several times in connection with the investigation, was named as an accused in the supplementary charge sheet.
