Bollywood actress Nora Fatehi was on Thursday questioned for nearly five hours by Delhi Police’s Economic Offences Wing for investigation in connection with an extortion case linked to alleged conman Sukesh Chandrashekhar, officials said.
This was the second time that she was summoned for questioning by the Delhi Police for her alleged role in the case, they said.
Fatehi was questioned alongside Pinki Irani who allegedly introduced her to Chandrashekhar. Irani was quizzed on Wednesday too along with actor Jacqueline Fernandez in connection with the case, police said.
A senior police officer said both Irani and Fatehi joined the probe at the Economic Offences Wing’s office at Mandir Marg.
“Fatehi, her brother-in-law Mehboob alias Bobby and Irani were questioned for nearly five hours. All of them cooperated during the investigation and they were provided lunch. Since Irani had approached Fatehi’s brother-in-law as well, all the three were also confronted with each other,” he said.
“We had already questioned Fatehi but we wanted to seek details about who actually received a car as a gift from Chandrashekhar’s wife after she attended an event for the couple in Chennai and check details of the bank statements of her brother-in-law,” the officer added.
Fatehi and her brother-in-law were given a questionnaire that had 30 questions. They answered all questions, he added.
Interrogation has revealed that Fatehi was approached by Irani on behalf of Chandrashekhar in January. Fatehi claimed that she went to attend the event in Chennai for a studio inauguration and Chandrashekhar’s wife gifted her an expensive Gucci bag and a BMW 5 Series Car, instead of a fee, the officer said.
However, Fatehi has never met Chandrashekhar in person but they have had a limited conversation over WhatsApp and she was not aware of his illegal activities, the officer added.
Chandrashekhar’s wife had insisted Fatehi take the car as a gift instead of charging a fee for the Chennai event, he said.
After the event, Chandrashekhar repeatedly tried to contact Fatehi on phone but she became suspicious and broke all ties with him, the officer said.
In January this year, Irani had approached Fatehi’s brother-in-law and he received the gifted car instead of Fatehi due to certain legal constraints, he said, adding it is part of the investigation.
“The car received as a gift was later sold by him,” the officer said.
“Irani claimed to have appeared as an anchor on a Television show and is well connected to the (film) industry. She is an associate of Chandrashekhar. She also contacted Fatehi’s brother-in-law and tried to lure him saying they can get him films,” he said.
Irani admitted to having contacted Bobby in a bid to influence him to get into films, police said.
As part of the investigation, Irani will be questioned again along with other people who are connected to the case, they said.
“They will be questioned to seek further clarity and joint the connecting dots,” the officer said.
Though the agency had questioned Fatehi for six to seven hours on September 2 and recorded her statement, she is being further interrogated as there are “certain unanswered questions”, he said.
