Court grants four days' custody of woman associate of Sukesh to ED in money laundering case

A Delhi Court on Friday granted four days of custody of Pooja Singh to Enforcement Directorate to interrogate her in a money laundering case allegedly involving jailed conman Sukesh Chandrashekar. She is allegedly the main associate of Sukesh.

This case is connected with Rs 200 crores alleged extortion from wives of businessmen brothers.

Special judge Parveen Singh remanded Pooja Singh into ED's custody till July 12, 2022. She was arrested by ED on Friday.

Court also allowed the counsel for the accused to meet her every day for 15 minutes in ED custody.

ED, while seeking 14 days of custody, submitted before the court the accused Pooja Singh (Manager, Nail Artistry, Chennai) has the knowledge of close associates of Sukesh Chandrashekar and his assets. His custodial interrogation is required to trace the proceeds of the crime.

It was also submitted that she is non-cooperative and evasive in her statement. She deleted the data from her phone on the instructions of Sukesh.

It was further submitted that Pooja Singh is in possession of material evidence and information related to the offence of money laundering and is deliberately withholding the same.

It is further submitted that custodial interrogation of the accused is essential for the identification of the persons involved in the offence and to ascertain the end-use of proceeds of crime, their beneficial owners, related activities/financial transactions, layering and to unearth the deep-rooted conspiracy hatched by her with co-accused for the furtherance of the investigation.

Her custodial interrogation is also required to ascertain the money trail and confront her with evidence and witnesses

It is alleged that Pooja Singh was assisting Sukesh Chandrashekar to pass information to transfer funds kept with his associates.

She allegedly assisted Sukesh Chandrashekar to smuggle or deliver various items in jail to help him to get benefits and to enable him to continue his nefarious activities inside the jail.

It is also alleged that Pooja Singh was in knowledge of the fact that sales in Nail Artistry, owned by Sukesh and his wife, were from the amalgamation of proceeds of crime and still continue to do so.

ED also alleged that Pooja Singh assisted Sukesh Chandrashekar in laundering the proceeds of crime by allowing him to exchange messages through her for which she paid a handsome amount. Therefore there are reasons to believe that the accused is guilty of the offence of money laundering under PMLA.

It was also submitted that during a search at her residence in Delhi many incriminating documents and digital evidence have been recovered.

On the other, the counsels for the accused opposed the custody stating various grounds.

( With inputs from ANI )