The Supreme Court on Monday refused to entertain an appeal filed by actor Jacqueline Fernandez seeking the quashing of the ₹200-crore money-laundering case filed against her for having allegedly received gifts from alleged conman Sukesh Chandrasekhar, who is in jail.

A bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and Augustine George Masih, while refusing to delve into the merits of the allegation, told senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for the actor, that these issues ought to be argued before the trial court.

The senior counsel contested that though there was no material against Jacqueline, she had been falsely implicated under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act merely because she had received certain gifts from
Chandrasekhar.

According to Rohatgi, the actor had a mere acquaintance with Chandrasekhar and had never visited him in jail, nor did she ask him for money or gifts. “I met him because I am a film star. Someone had introduced me to him…,” she said through her lawyer.

The bench, however, refused to interfere and allowed the actor to withdraw her appeal. Upon Rohatgi’s request, the bench said that the trial court shall not be influenced by any observations made by the Supreme Court
in the matter.

The actor had filed the present appeal against a Bombay High Court order which had declined to quash the case against her.